Huntress X Vampire
by Unrequited-Words
Summary: "Our love was sinned from the start, this... US, we can't WORK." That's right, we can't and we knew it, and yet we fell in love anyways.
1. Their First Encounter

_For anyone out there that thinks I'm stealing the fanfic, Huntress X Vampire, understand that I had just recently changed my username from XxWinterRosexX to Unrequited-Words. I felt like this username reflected my style more and is suited for me personally. Now as for my decision to republish this story... well this is my most popular series so far out of all my fanfictions, but looking back at my previous chapters, I can't help but wince by the poor quality of the writing. __**So, I'm editing the beginning chapter**__, I just want to improve the quality of the writing. The main reasons why I couldn't publish the last few months was because of my mom and my crashing computer (which I recently sent to get fixed)._  
><em>Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.<em>

(^.^)/)

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><p>. . . . X . . . .<p>

_**"Don't you think I'm ever going to abandon you, got that?!"**_

_**"Y-Yeah, I got it."**_

_**You better wait, kid. I'm going to come back. And don't you ever be alone."**_

_**"How can I not be alone?"**_

_**He turned around and took something from his belt. It was a pink stuffed rabbit.**_

_**. . . .**_** X**_** . . . .**_

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><p><em>Lucy's P.O.V.<em>

_. . . . . . . . _

Lucy froze as an alarm screamed its way across the countless hallways of Fairy Tail V.H.G.

V.H.G. stood for Vampire. Hunting. Guild.

Lucy twirled a well-polished stake with one hand effortlessly, it was coated in a beautiful silver that turned red whenever the lights blinked in correspondence to the siren. This kind of nerve-wracking alarm sent one message to all the guild members of Fairy Tail:

Vampire on the loose

Lucy snatched her stake as it spun midair and latched it onto her thick leather belt. Then she stood there for a few (almost boring) seconds because no one was supposed to move unless given further instruction. Lucy tied scratched her head impatiently, Cana-chan was late as usual. It wasn't until the blonde managed to pick up the sounds of frantic footsteps that she finally stopped twitching.

"Lucy Scarlett!" the 23 year old brunette burst into the room, panting with half crazed eyes. Even though Lucy already prepared herself for Cana's spectacular entrance, the woman looked like she just killed a man with her bare hands. Lucy took a personal note to remind Cana that she really needed to take a chill pill when it came to situations like these. That girl could really scare the newbies away from Fairy Tail.

Of course, being the daughter of Erza, Lucy just put on her poker face and arked an thin eyebrow, "Yes Cana-chan?" _Late as usual, _Lucy thought to herself, doing her best not to snap at her unreliable senior.

"Vampire attack in Training room nine on the second floor, eleven injured" Cana said with an urgency in her voice unusual for a person of her I-don't-give-a-shit-about-the-world character.

Cana's frightened gaze really dug into Lucy's skin. Lucy never liked it when any of her seniors made it look or sound like the world was about to end (even if the situation deemed it highly possible, like now). If she was given the oppurtunity, she would throw a temper tantrum and NOBODY wants to see Lucy Scarlett of Fairy Tail throw a temper tantrum simply because she was Erza Scarlett's adoptive daughter. Erza Scarlett's daughter, adoptive or not, was enough said. But because she had a reputation to hold, the blonde teenager only kicked off running and grunted, "Let's go."

As the two members of Fairy Tail lunged towards Training room nine, Lucy began the usual question and answer exchange, "Who are the victims?" she asked, trying to make her voice audible enough to be heard above the blare of the alarm.

Cana began the long list of names that Lucy took careful note of, but the brunette hesitated on the tenth name. Lucy glanced sideways at her friend, "Is that all? I thought you said there were eleven-"

"Loke and Hibiki," Cana yelled the two names out, wincing as though saying them pained her. Lucy almost tripped over her feet, but managed to stay in motion. She felt her breath quicken a little, she must have heard wrong. The alarm was probably too loud, there was no way those two would get injured.

"Did... Did you say Loke and Hibiki?" she couldn't believe it. Or rather, Lucy didn't WANT to believe it.

Cana couldn't look at Lucy, as if she felt guilty of their injuries "A vampire sneaked into the training room. I don't know the details but she somehow bit Hibiki and Loke was injured in the process of trying to break the vampire away from Hibiki."

"Those idiots..." Lucy murmured angrily as they turned left at the corner, "Can't they give me a break for once?" She unconsciously picked up her pace, leaving Cana behind. _Damn those unreliable brats, why are they so reckless? _Frustrated thoughts poured into her head and the thought of those two.

A quick patter of footsteps followed as Cana quickly caught up to her, "Lucy... They're your **brothers**, so it's okay if you're worried."

She couldn't reply to her caring friend. A blank look plastered itself onto Lucy's expression, they didn't have time for pointless sympathy in the midst of an emergency.

"It doesn't matter, we're almost at the scene anyways."

. . . . . . . .

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><p><em>Gray's P.O.V. (third person)<em>

What an unpleasant scene.

At least, that's what Gray thought as he stepped to the right to avoid a flying piece of equipment.

"Gray-sama," a quiet voice which belonged to Juvia materialized from behind him, "Would you like me to carry things out this time?"

Gray smirked, turning around to face his faithful companion, "Nah, it's been a while since I messed around. Don't you say I should take advantage of this opportunity, Juvia?"

The rain woman lowered her gaze and bowed respectively, "Anything for you, Gray-sama, but—"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," he waved her off briskly, "Be careful around _humans _right?"

Loose, falling debris landed clumsily around them as the screams and angst filled yells of the guild members enveloped the room. But the two beings who stood in the middle of the wreckage, him and Juvia, hardly even flinched. The rubbish fell through Juvia's liquid body as easily as bullets through a piece of paper, somehow leaving her without a scratch. And without moving a finger, Gray created a solid shield of ice that kept him enveloped in a tight air pocket.

Juvia nodded, and opened her mouth slightly to reveal a long canine too sharp to be human, "Our species must be careful around humans, especially when they spill blood."

Gray let out a snort and broke through his own ice barrier with a heavy kick, "Don't worry, like I'd be distracted by a few petty drops of blood. You just take care of yourself."

And with their short conversation ended, Gray leapt into the heart of the battle scene. He scanned the sea of terrified faces until his eyes landed upon a certain blonde haired girl. Her calm demeanor seemed to separate her from the rest of the panicked atmosphere. Her dark eyes seemed unfazed as she calmly directed the chaotic crowd toward the exit.

Wanting to observe her a little longer, Gray stayed in his position behind her, watching her fluent movements. Actually, he was just trying to figure out if he ever saw her back at the castle, she would do good with a promotion to a higher rank with her skills. The way she wielded her whip was quite admirable, even for him.

Then, he spotted her—the crazed vampire which had lost all sense, the reason why he was spending his Friday night aiding some freaking vampire hunting guild. According to Gray's intuition, now would be a good time to join in the fight if he wanted at least some excitement tonight.

With silent movements, Gray approached the blondie from behind. He was just about to warn her about the vampire when his nose caught the girl's scent. He grabbed onto the nearest thing, which happened to be a pole, to keep himself from tumbling to the ground. Gray stared at the blonde in front of him incredulously, sniffing again just to be sure.

_She was human._

There was no mistaking the unusual scent, and it definitely belonged to a human.

So what does _the_ Gray Fullbuster, second in line to the royal throne, do in this life-threatening situation?

Strike up a conversation with the human while there is a wild vampire on the rampage in the same room as them? Sure, no biggie.

"Boo," he whispered huskily in the blonde's ear. He had expected her to jump out of her skin, but to her credit, she just flinched. Not bad for a species that needs every little ounce of paranoia they have to survive.

She gave him an irritated look, pointing her whip in his direction, "What in the world are you doing?" she screeched, "Go and help restrain the…"

_Seems like she needs a wake-up call, _Gray thought to himself amusingly. So he smirked, making sure that his sharp canine was in clear view. It was as if a trigger went off in the human's brain as she visibly stiffened. It was funny how she tried to maintain her stoic expression through all of this.

"…Vampire," she finished her sentence without the arrogance she once had. Well, now that she knew, Gray was satisfied. He hated dealing with a stuck up human, they had to know their place.

He decided to push her limits a bit more, so he teasingly added, "What's wrong sweetheart? Why the sudden stiffness?"

Another emotion overtook her shocked expression as she slashed her whip at him with deadly accuracy. But human sense could only go so far when going up against his species', so he leapt out of the way without a scratch to be seen.

"Woah," he exclaimed, almost angrily, "Geez, that have really hurt me."

She tapped her foot with impatience, "That's the point, moron. I'm sorry to interrupt this lovely conversation, but get a clue that I'm supposed to restrain you under the order of the Treaty of Extortionists."

Oh, something snapped in Gray's mind. She thought that _he _was the vampire she was supposed to capture.

But before mentioning that piece of information, he had to correct her train of thought on something else.

"Hey little lady, my name is Gray, not moron," he said, pretty much offended by her attitude when she was talking to the prince of his kind.

She glared at him, reverting back into a battle stance.

"My name is Lucy, not little lady."

This was their first encounter.

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><p>. . . . X . . . .<p>

_And that's it. Not much edited, just some detail editing crap and other stuff. I'm sorry if there are any mistakes. Nothing is really going to change, just some reformatting of the story. I took out some unnecessary parts too. Hope you enjoy the rest of the story, I'll edit those too._

_**~Unrequited-Words.**_


	2. Hatred Blooms Before Love

_Gee guys, thanks for the great reviews! I hope you guys get ready for a love triangle, I always love making those! Natsu is going to out of character for my story, he's going to be a little more mature._

^.^/

X.x.X

Lucy was sick of his stuck up attitude and the fact that he was toying with her. She launched herself at him and prepared to attack him with her whip.

"Gray" just dodged smoothly, his white coat trailing behind him as he flipped backwards. (You know, the white coat thing that Gray usually wears when on missions)

"Whoa… Lucy-chan, that thing you're waving around could hurt me!" he complained again.

Lucy was pissed off, "Can you just shut-up and be like the rest of the other vampires?"

"… No."

Lucy snapped, right there and then. That was really unusual because Lucy NEVER loses her temper even if the person has the worst temper ever. Gray wasn't even half as bad as some of the spoiled people she has dealt with, but there was something about him that rubbed her the wrong way.

She could run at a vampire's speed for short bursts of time. She did that which seemed to catch him by surprise. She lashed out at him.

"Just. Stay. Still!" even if with her temporary vampire speed, she couldn't match the agility of his.

"No can do!"

She reached her limit, and was panting hard. The speed burst was an extremely high leveled ability. Her mother Erza and the guild master were the only other people currently alive who can use this speed burst. However, this ability had some down-sides to it as well. This speed burst could only last for a few seconds at a time, so you had to finish what you wanted to do immediately because you run out of almost all your energy once the speed burst is done.

"You… You…" Lucy panted, trying to stay alert. This was bad, she was vulnerable. Cana was still fighting somewhere.

Gray suddenly stopped, then said, "You know, you're attacking the wrong person."

Lucy, tried to balance on her trembling legs, "No, I am not you vampire."

He sighed dramatically, "Fullbuster."

"What does the Fullbuster clan have anything to do with this? They are the only clan of vampires who we are allies with!" snapped Lucy.

Ding!

Lucy's eyes widened and she mentally slapped herself, "Don't tell me… YOU are GRAY FULLBUSTER?"

Gray bowed, "At your service, my princess."

Lucy's jaw nearly dropped, he was Gray Fullbuster! Vampire Hunters have an alliance with the royal vampire family, the Fullbusters. The treaty is fragile and wary, but it wasn't meant to give peace between humans and vampires anyway. The treaty was formed because vampire hunters and vampires both had the same goal of capturing EX vampires. EX vampires are vampires who don't abide by the vampire law of not interfering with human affairs.

That basically means you can't bite humans, period.

However, 45% of vampires don't abide that rule, and that one rule only. Those vampires are called EX vampires. EX vampires are vampires who have a dangerous thirst for human blood. EX vampires, as their name suggests, are considered traitors. But because you can't tell what kind of blood a vampire has drunk unless you see it yourself, it is extremely difficult for others to catch them. EX vampires are the only vampires who drink human blood because it's illegal.

The Royal Fullbuster family's goal is to track down these EX vampires and stripped of their vampire powers and have their fangs removed. Fangs are a very sensitive part to a vampire and supposedly cause a lot of pain to them when removed.

"B-But if you are part of the royal family, then…"

"That's right Einstein, I am not the real threat here," interrupted Gray. He looked around, then his eyes widened.

"WATCH OUT!"

BOOM.

He shoved Lucy aside just before the ground under her blew up.

"What in the-" Lucy grunted as she was shoved aside.

Gray had pushed her to the ground and she was lying there flat out. Gray was on top of her. They were in an awkward position. Lucy didn't see what was so awkward about that situation (because she is so dense) besides the fact that a VAMPIRE was in touch with her, so she remained expressionless.

Gray got up and offered a hand to help Lucy up, but Lucy rejected it and got up by herself.

"I hate those kinds of vampire powers," Lucy said, annoyed.

"You mean the ones with earth powers?"

"What else would I be talking about? You can't sense them until the very last moment when they are just about to jump out of the earth. And by then, you are a goner."

"Well, no time for chit chat, we've got a vampire to fight," Gray pointed to the vampire who just exploded from the earth.

Lucy watched the dust clear, what lay before her was a beautiful creature. It was a woman with pale creamy skin and auburn colored hair. She had a tall and perfect figure, almost like a picture from a book.

The only thing that gave her away were her red colored eyes.

Her eyes glowed with the color of scarlet blood, vampire eyes. They were the eyes of a vampire after they had drunk blood.

Lucy prepared her whip and entered a battle stance mode.

She heard Cana's battle cries; she seemed to be holding her own battle pretty well.

The vampire girl whipped away some blood on her cheek, human blood.

Lucy narrowed her eyes and gripped on her whip's handle even tighter, time to attack…

"Hold your horses."

Lucy didn't turn her gaze away from the vampire, but she asked, "What are you going to do?"

Gray didn't answer, but something else did.

Without warning, he shot a beam of ice at her, and the vampire barely had enough time to dodge even with her supreme vampire speed.

She let out what seemed to be a mix between a yell and hiss. Normally, vampires don't make that kind scream, but vampires who have drunk human blood become temporarily crazed from a few minutes to a few hours. That's why EX vampires are so dangerous, since you never know what's going to happen.

"I don't want you to deal with her," Gray said while staring at the EX vampire.

Lucy felt insulted, did he doubt her strength?

"Well YOUR HIGHNESS, I can fight just as well as any vampire, thank you very much," she snapped.

They both ran off into opposite directions as the EX vampire used her powers and launched some debris at them. They slammed into the nearby wall, causing another wreckage.

Lucy panted, that speed boost she used earlier really was NOT worth it.

Gray created an ice shield to counter the flying debris. Lucy used her whip to smash the debris into pieces.

"You hunters are ruthless and bloodthirsty…" began Gray in a more serious voice as he created an ice sword cut up all things flying around him.

_Pretty ironic to hear from a vampire_, thought Lucy.

"Whenever you see an EX vampire, you kill them on the spot, never giving them a second chance by sending them to us," Gray countered another blast with his ice magic. The EX vampire was slowing down from the attack Gray had launched on her from before.

Lucy tried to get close to the EX vampire, but she kept on getting pushed away with the vampire's powers.

"Yeah, you say WE'RE bloodthirsty and ruthless? Well news flash, you guys drink our blood, yippie," Lucy said with a sharp tongue. She was getting angry and agitated. She slashed her whip again, it was hard to have an argument while trying to take out a vampire. Lucy almost landed a hit, but the vampire dodged and she glared at Lucy. She suddenly disappeared.

_She used her powers to go underground, _thought Lucy. The vampire couldn't go anywhere else. Underground was the only option.

By pure instinct, Gray and Lucy ran the center and used the "back to back" method of defense.

"Look your highness, this is going to be a temporary alliance between you and me. Once we get her, we're done," Lucy said to him while on the lookout.

Gray managed to laugh, "We've had one since the day we were born, treaty, remember?"

"Lucy-san!"

Lucy looked to the side, it was Cana. She was battered and had many scratches. Lucy cursed silently, she should have heard Cana ask for backup. Talking with Gray distracted her. The last thing you needed in a fight with a vampire was unnecessary blood.

"Lucy-san! There's not just two vampires there's…." just as Cana's voice started to rise, the EX vampire that Lucy and Gray were fighting appeared behind her, out of nowhere. Her fangs were exposed, she was ready to bite Cana.

"CANA! WATCH OUT!" shouted Lucy as she ran for her friend. She knew it would be too late before she reached there. Even so, so drew her pistol from her belt and prepared to fire. She wasn't exactly good with a gun though, Bisca was the master, she barely managed to hit the target.

A whirl of something ran past her at alarming speed, making her hair fly.

Lucy panicked, was it another vampire?

Yes it was.

But it was his royal highness, Gray.

He was a vampire after all, and he had a much more powerful speed boost than her. Plus, that speed boost did not have any side effects.

It all happened in a second. Lucy was lucky she didn't blink, cause she seriously would have missed it.

Gray leapt and was face to face with the EX vampire right before she bit Cana. He drew his fist and punched her in the throat. She let out a gagged sound and was thrown several feet back.

Cana was stunned. She didn't seem to understand what was happening. Lucy didn't blame her, she wouldn't either if she was in Cana's position.

Gray quickly used his chance to get close to the EX vampire and then he bit his thumb and allowed blood to run from and drop a few inches away from her.

Suddenly, her eyes turned from red to a crystal blue. She blinked twice, then gasped when she saw Gray.

"Prince Gray… I-I… " she understood the situation and what she had done. She bowed, sitting on the ground.

Gray's voice had no humor, "You have done to unforgivable, do you understand?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Do you have any defense to your actions?"

"No, my lord."

"You will be sent to prison and have your fangs and powers removed, do you understand."

"Y-Yes… my lord," the EX vampire said shakily.

"Now, what is your name?"

"Grace… Grace Elizabeth Wyvern."

"Juvia!" he called. Lucy looked around, Juvia?

Lucy watched as a spiral of water appeared next to Gray. It twisted around beautifully for a second, then is dissolved to reveal a teenage girl… no a teenage vampire.

She was quite pretty as all vampires are. She had pale skin and a thick bottom set of eyelashes, rather unique. Her shoulder-length blue hair reminded Lucy of the ocean and her curls at the bottom reminded her of waves. She had a curvaceous figure and wore an extremely pretty and revealing blue dress that shimmered as if made of water (no it was not transparent)… No scratch that, after Lucy saw her appear out of water, she was sure that the dress was made of water.

"Juvia is here Prince Gray," Juvia said with what could only be described as a british accent.

Gray looked at her, "Juvia, please take Miss Wyvern away, she is an EX vampire."

Lucy saw the Wyvern person bow her head with shame… well if she didn't want to be shamed then don't drink human blood! Yeesh!

"Juvia understands," Juvia bowed her head. Lucy found it a bit unusual that Juvia was always referring to herself in third person.

What happened next creeped Lucy out even more.

"Juvia" went in front of Grace Wyvern and then she held her arms out and her body quickly dissolved into water, starting from her feet.

"What in the…" Lucy and Cana said at the same time, their eyes wide with disbelief and shock. They have both seen all sorts of vampire powers but this… this woman seemed to be MADE of water.

You could still see a faint outline of her body amongst the water (aka Juvia) and to be honest, it was quite beautiful, even if it was a little weird.

"Lucy don't stare, its rude," Gray said teasingly as he glanced back. Lucy glared back but didn't say anything. So what, it wasn't every day when you see a woman change herself into a blob of water.

Lucy continued to watch as this Juvia made herself into a sphere of water around Grace Wyvern, and floated up and out of the anti-vampire barrier.

Lucy was still watching in awe when something suddenly hit her.

"Wait a second… Juvia is a vampire right?" she asked Gray.

"That's right, did you just notice?" Gray smiled.

Lucy ignored him, "Then… how can she go through the anti-vampire barrier? There's no way…"

"She's got special powers. She has completely mastered the element of water. I am not exaggerating when I say this. She is water itself, she can turn her body into water and the barrier can only sense water, nothing else," Gray said with a small sign of admiration in his voice.

Lucy found this quite alarming, "But then if-"

Cana immediately interrupted Lucy, she still needed to say something, "Lucy there are FIVE vampires still in this room, we need to quickly get into action!"

Gray coughed, "If you haven't noticed, Juvia has already taken care of all of them."

Cana stared at him, "What…"

"Juvia trapped them in her water locks. When I called for her, she trapped them in her water locks and teleported them out of here," Gray explained.

Lucy sighed, those vampires were lucky, they all had the power of teleportation.

Cana still wasn't done yet, "But Lucy, Hibiki, and Loke… they're injured pretty badly, Hibiki worse than Loke. They'll live though."

Lucy suddenly remembered, she grimaced and ran to the room that Cana was fighting in.

She almost gasped.

The other vampire hunters were already in gear, tending to their wounds.

One of them was Natsu, her best friend, he looked up, "Lucy…" Natsu was an extremely accomplished vampire hunter who is rumored to be the next S class leveled vampire hunter. He sometimes overdid things a bit though.

Lucy struggled to remain expressionless and barely succeeded, "How are they?"

Natsu stood up and hugged Lucy, "They're in critical condition. But… I don't think they'll die."

Lucy took this time to busy her head into Natsu's shoulders. It hid her tears. Natsu was the only person who saw her cry other than her family.

"You think… you THINK they'll survive… that's not good enough," Lucy said softly. How could she have forgotten about Hibiki and Loke? Her own two BROTHERS. Even though Erza adopted the three of them separately, they looked alike and could have been sibilings. They were a close trio.

Natsu patted her head, "It's going to be alright Lucy…"

To others, this may have looked like a one-sided hug. Natsu holding onto Lucy tightly, Lucy just standing there, not doing anything. She didn't look too shaken up either, just Natsu holding Lucy to comfort her, but it was much more than that. Lucy was crying, something nobody but Natsu and her family saw.

Gray watched from the other side, examining the two critically. This was hilarious, little missy there was all shaken up and the flame headed boy was comforting her. He never did understand humans. Lucy wasn't as strong as he thought, in fact, she was pathetic. Ha.

Cana gave the signal to say that the attack was over. The barrier was lifted from the area.

Natsu let go of Lucy after she dried up her tears, then she went over to Loke and Hibiki.

"I am so sorry for not getting to you two sooner… it's all my fault…" Lucy said softly as she stroked Hibiki's face gently. Her voice nor her face gave any sign of sadness though. Rule number 2 in the vampire book, don't show any sign of weakness.

There was a snicker in the background.

Lucy whipped her head around, who would dare do that at a time like this?

Well, none other than his royal highness it seems.

Gray looked up at her accusing eye, "What? I simply find it amusing that you cry over something so small. I mean it is pretty obvious that they are both going to live. Your friend said so." He was still laughing a little. It was such a cruel sound to her.

Lucy felt something other than annoyance rush through her, hate. She hated him before because he was teasing and had a sarcastic personality. It was more like a childish hatred, but now, this feeling she felt was a different kind of hate. She rarely felt this way, and now she was confident that she knew how pure hate felt like. It was dark, but not black. It was raging and roaring, not silent sneaky. Despite what others may describe hate as, she had a different definition.

The hate she felt right now was like lava. It flows through you, burning and bursting, raging and roaring with no end. She felt like containing it would make her explode. She needed to erupt.

She stood up and marched over, she never felt such a need to kill someone.

Gray didn't even move when she stopped in front of him.

She raised her hand then an epic slap echoed through the room.

An angry red mark lingered on Gray's face. He slowly turned his head to face her, his face still mocking, "Way to predictable, YOU are way too predictable. In fact find this situation even more-."

"Shut up you bastard," Lucy said darkly.

Gray stopped talking for a moment, then said, "And if I don't…?"

Before he had even finished, Lucy clenched her fists, then grabbed the collar of his shirt.

Gray stared coldly at her, "Don't get too cocky you human."

That only made Lucy grip onto his collar tighter, "You are a _pathetic_ vampire."

Silence

"You make me want to throw up, is that part of your vampire powers?" Lucy felt her rage building, then she fired a series of it, "You vampires make me sick, actually I pity you. You damned bastards don't understand anything. In fact, you would kill your family to get what you desire. How pitiful, how despicable, how PATHETIC is that?"

Lucy paused for a breath, "You have no loyalty to anyone but yourself, you don't value anyone's life but yours. That makes me sick you know?"

Finally, Lucy shoved her face up to his, only centimeters apart, her hand gripping tightly onto Gray's collar. Tears were already streaming down her face, "What is the point if you don't understand the feeling of loving someone? If you don't, what's the point of living, you have nothing to protect, nothing to look out for, nothing to look up to. You jerk, go find someone to love, and then I might consider forgiving you!"

She pushed him away and Gray stumbled backwards. Everyone was stunned, Lucy who never showed her temper, Lucy who never cried, Lucy who hated giving life to life lectures, just did all of that to the vampire.

"Lucy…" Natsu said softly.

Gray hung his head, then looked up, "You know, you are one weird girl. You must really think you can't die huh?"

Lucy said glared at him, "Not by the hands of you, now get out of here before I kill you."

Gray let out a snort, "Whatever vampire huntress. Ciao…" He waved his hand and then he was out.

"Teleportation…" muttered Lucy. To be honest, she really hoped that he would stay so she could skin him alive.

Clap

Clap

Clap

Lucy turned around Natsu was clapping amidst the shocked faces, he walked over and was smiling softly.

"Nice job Luce."

"… Be quiet… I just lost part of my reputation…" Lucy muttered.

"I think not," Natsu waved to the rest of the crowd. They were still attending to Loke and Hibiki's injuries, but they were all staring at her with sparkly eyes.

"H-Hey..." Lucy stammered, they were freaking her out more than Juvia.

They continued to stare at her, but they didn't say anything which made the situation more creepy. They would be doing serious harm to their vampire hunter grades if they did let out what they wanted to do. They wanted to congratulate her and go "kyaaa!" and everything.

"W-Whatever, just tell me, are they going to recover?" Lucy looked at her brothers.

Then the room became quiet.

All eyes turned to Wendy. She was a young child, but she had a doctor's degree in medicine and healing powers. Something that was unusual because humans don't have magical powers. Wendy was truly a genius of her age.

Wendy looked down, not meeting Lucy's gaze, "Loke will recover fine. But HIbiki…" she hesitated.

"I don't know, the chances of him recovering are 50/50."

Lucy fell to the ground right then, no way… Hibiki was extremely protective of his status as a vampire hunter.

"Lucy!"

"Lucy-san!"

She blanked out for a moment, not hearing everyone's alarmed calls. Her world turned hazey…

_Hibiki… might become handicapped?_

Lucy didn't notice her hands tighten around an overly familiar white coat.

_Gray's P.O.V._

He opened his eyes as he finished teleporting back to his room in the castle.

He went to his mirror and looked at the angry hand mark across his face and whistled, no one had ever slapped him.

"Man is she one annoying girl," he muttered then noticed something.

"Shoot."

Gray finally noticed he was missing his white coat. He had an unusual habit of stripping, he must of done it at the vampire hunter academy.

He sighed, it was his favorite one too. He'd have to go back get it, and then he would meet Lucy…

He shuddered, he didn't hate her because she was interesting. Not the kind of interesting that made him want to love her, but the kind that made him curious about her. She was a stone plate to everyone else besides him.

Gray laughed, he never had seen a girl loose her temper like that with him. Lucy even gave him a lecture and slapped him. She ever messed up his composure.

He grabbed a white t-shirt and walked out of the room. He had temporarily forgot about Lucy, but little did he know that a picture of her face lingered in his mind.

"Time to punish the EX's," he said with a smirk.

X.x.X

_I am really starting to like this story… hee, I love the way that Gray doesn't love Lucy yet._

_Gray: I don't_

_Lucy: He doesn't_

_Me: Lovebirds… teehee_

_Them: WE AREN'T LOVEBIRDS!_


	3. Code Black

_I am updating all my stories at the moment. Sorry for the long wait you guys! I hope you guys enjoy this!_

^.^/

X.x.X

Lucy lay on top of her huge bed, she had a special room in the hunter guild because she was the daughter of Erza, best vampire huntress in the country. Most hunters had to share a room in the dorms.

But honestly, she never took advantage of that. All she had was a gigantic bed with curtains, a closet with clothes, a lamp, and some weapons. She liked the extra room so she could practice her skills. The room came with the bed too. The only other thing really, was her violin, leaning against the wall. No one knew except her family, that she could play the violin. But she could, and was pretty darn good at it. The sound comforted her when things were just too much to bear.

She thought about playing it, but she didn't feel like it at the moment, she had to think. She sat up and kicked her boots off which was easier said than done.

She wrapped her arms around her bare legs, thinking about the incident yesterday with Hibiki.

Hibiki had awaken and could not accept the fact that he was disabled, well, at least disabled enough to not be a hunter. She would not have been able to either if she was in his position, but Hibiki was special. He was an S class vampire hunter, an extremely young one too. People looked up to him, and when people looked up to you, you felt pressured not to let them down. Lucy knew this, she also knew Hibiki felt enormous amounts of pressure.

Loke had not woken up yet, which wasn't strange. Loke usually recovered more slowly from his injuries than usual people. Although Loke's injuries weren't as severe, he was more weak.

For the first time today, Lucy sighed, not knowing how to help her brother. Hibiki had some injuries in his spine, minor, but the spine was the most sensitive part in the body. Damaging it could mean instant death, so Hibiki was in a way, lucky. However, he would suffer from migraines, frequent soreness in his neck, and if his neck were to ever get injured… well then he might not survive. In other words, Hibiki did not meet the standards in being a vampire hunter.

She tugged at the white coat around her. It was quite warm, and it comforted her.

Wait… wait coat? Since when did she have a white coat?

Shock raced through her as realization hit.

"I believe that you, are wearing my coat."

Lucy whipped her head around, no… it couldn't be.

Oh yes it could.

Black hair and dark eyes, smooth skin, an annoying smirk, and leaning against Lucy's window. However, he looked out of breath and his eyes were darting around, as if somewhat nervous.

It was his Royal Highness Gray.

"You!" Lucy exclaimed, shocked. She thought her unpleasant experience with the vampire had ended. She felt sick looking at him, how cruel he was back then. But what else could she expect from a… _vampire?_

"Surprised to see me Scarlett-san?" Gray teased. (For all those who forgot, Lucy is adopted by Erza so her last name is Scarlett)

Lucy had her whip strapped to her waist, she immediately grasped it and pulled it out.

But Gray was too fast. He somehow got from her window, to her bed. Lucy couldn't say if it was just him being plain fast, or if he teleported.

It didn't matter though.

Lucy had only managed to get her whip pulled out diagonally in front of her chest. Gray was directly on top of her, literally. She had half-fallen over, to avoid being touched by him, and she had succeeded. She was leaning on her right elbow with her whip being pulled out in front of her chest with her hands like a shield. Gray had his arms grasping the bed on both sides of Lucy, kneeling on one leg. He was bent over her in a horse like position, so yes, technically, they were not touching each other.

Gray wolf whistled, "Is it me or is it getting HOT in here?"

Lucy thought he was going to launch a fire attack at her, she immediately grimaced and raised her knee abruptly to jab his stomach.

Gray flipped over, managing to avoid her kick, and landed neatly and lightly on the side of the room.

Lucy got up, did a huge back flip, and landed on the opposite side of the room, the side that was opposite of Gray's.

Gray looked at her up and down, "Nice nightgown you got there Huntress."

Lucy felt her face warm up a little. So what if she was dressed in a sleeveless nightgown that barely covered her thighs, ugh, that didn't sound right. Let us just say… it was from Erza, her mother.

Lucy ripped the jacket off of her, and threw it at Gray, who caught it.

"Careful there, this is my favorite jacket!"

Lucy glared at him, "Yeah, well I don't want that thing back."

Gray arched an eyebrow, "Then why did you wear it in the first place?" He slowly slipped his jacket on.

Silence.

Lucy crossed her hands and pointed her nose into the air, "Accident."

Gray didn't take his gaze off her, "Uh huh." He did not believe her at all.

Actually, Lucy technically did put it on by accident. When she was in distress the other day, she found a white jacket on the floor. She though it was a nurse's and put it on, to warm herself. She just forgot it was Gray's.

Gray shrugged, "Whatever… humans," he muttered the last part out.

Lucy pointed to her open window, "Out, Fullbuster."

Gray snapped and the windows shut, he smiled, "No."

Lucy gapped at him, was he serious? They both could get seriously busted. Vampire and huntress meeting together without a formal document of confrontation, no way in hell was that allowed. Even if they did have a treaty, it wasn't very strong and confrontations were wary.

He looked bored, "Hey huntress, you look kind of stupid there."

Lucy was enraged, "Why you… you…"

Unexpectedly, Gray had traveled from his side of the room to right next to Lucy's side. He held her waist, and hid them behind the curtain. Lucy didn't even have time to react.

"What are you-" Lucy began to shriek.

Gray covered her mouth with his hand, stopping her speech abruptly. Lucy finally understood that something was up, and stayed silent.

Then, she heard the flutter of wings outside the window. Lucy listened, it sounded heavy, unlike bats or birds. Then there was a huge shadow and what looked like two heads branching out from a single body. She froze, eyes wide, no way… How could… there even be such a thing, especially in the academy?

Gray cursed under his breath, Lucy now understood. His royal highness was running away from IT and he stumbled into her room. No wonder he seemed so nervous.

Finally, it flew away. Lucy could still feel her heart beating in her chest, oh lord…

"CODE BLACK, CODE BLACK." Erza Scarlett's voice echoed through intercom and throughout the academy. Iron bars immediately covered the windows and doors.

Lucy Gray's grip tighten around her

_Vampirex… _she managed to think amongst the chaos. Then, the room turned black.

Gray's P.O.V.

_Hmm… what was Code Black again? Oh yeah… Code Black was used only when an intruder… an extremely dangerous intruder had come onto academy grounds. It was used to protect the human hunters here. Geez… hunters and their fancy dancy codes, can't they just tell say that there's an intruder? Man… and I used to think that the British mother taught me was overly done, _Gray shook his head.

He let out a breath of relief. But still, that had scared the crap out of him too… he had no idea how that vampirex caught up to him. He had teleported over a twenty mile stretch of land to this hunter's place. How the hell…

Hmm?

He looked down at his chest and saw a head full of blonde hair. Oh great, he was going to get a lot of crap out of her mouth later.

He needed a break from this wannabe Buffy. But first… he needed to find a way to sneak out of his situation.

Gray let out a sneaky grin, "You want an explanation huh?" What was his plan? Well he was going to get her all worked up and use her tone as the start of an argument then lead off to some faraway topic.

"What the hell was a VAMPIREX doing here?" Lucy nearly screeched. She faced the opposite direction of him, making it seem like she was screaming at the wall.

_Seems like her eyes haven't adjusted yet. _ Gray sighed, "Easy now huntress. Can't have you mistaking the wall for me!"

Well wannabe Buffy started to fume and he only watch in amusement as she stormed into the wall. She fell to the ground, a big red mark on her forehead. This earned her a laugh from Gray, "I see why you hunters never kill us in the dark."

"Well, got your explanation or what? You can't escape now, I'm busted when they find out, so you better tell me the reason to why I will be busted in the future."

Damn, she hadn't forgotten… now what was he going to do?

After weighing the pros and cons of telling her, he decided he didn't want to deal with her annoyingness and just say the truth, "Well… you know, that was a Vampirex." He turned to Lucy, "Ex Vampires sometimes turn into Vampirexes when they consume blood of ANOTHER Ex vampire."

When Ex vampires drink human blood, their body starts to react differently to many different things. It changes the way their body works. Sometimes, and only sometimes, their blood cells start to produce something called a pirex.

The blondie nodded, I guess she knew.

The pirex is what causes the vampire to become crazed for a few moments after drinking human blood. But afterwards, it really doesn't do much.

If one Ex vampire who is producing pirex drinks the blood of another Ex vampire who is also producing pirex, both turn into one vampirex. Basically the same as a vampire, except they become hideous creatures, grow huge bat-like wings, and have two heads because their bodies have molded into one. This is a result of the mingling of pirexes.

It's not exactly a pretty thing to imagine, even for him. Even he and Juvia needed backup when they faced up against one because of their ferocity. He saw her shudder, maybe she had dealt with them too.

Gray started to wonder how humans took vampirexes as. He stared at her until she started to fidget uncomfortably, well, too bad she could see now.

Just for the fun of making her feel more uncomfortable, he used another trick off his sleeve. Hey, you can't blame him just because he liked seeing her uncomfortable, "You know, just a secret between you and me, there have been an increase in vampirexes recently and it's not a small increase. In fact-"

"WHAT?" the hunter was instantly on her feet. Well, at least I get to see her facial expressions, I swear I could live off of them. She reached out to what I believe was an attempt to grab me. I stepped aside and let her stumble into the curtain.

That didn't slow her down though, "An INCREASE?" she hissed through gritted teeth, "in those things? You have a ton of exp-"

Gray dismissed her with a wave of his hand, "Yes, I know," he interrupted, "I have a lot of explaining to do.

He glanced at her face, who knew a human could get so red… almost like a tomato.

Much to his disappointment, instead of throwing a tantrum, she just said, "We have got to stop interrupting one another."

_That's never gonna happen as I continue to live… _Gray snorted, "Yeah, we'll do that after time stops."

Lucy looked at him, whatever, "Anyways, stop changing the subject! What the hell happened?"

She glared at him, it was the kind of look his tutor gave him that said you-need-to-give-me-a-answer-in-five-seconds-or-I-will-personally-send-you-to-the-gullitine.

To prevent himself from becoming human-chow, Gray scratched his hair, "Funny you should ask, this reminds me of the time when I was-"

Then, blondie snapped, "I don't care if I am interrupting you, just tell me the damn reason!"

Gray gave her a puppy dog look, not with big eyes or anything. Just the look similar from that of a dog who just got rejected by his owner. It was actually a really sincere look… it looked like he was so sad too… He perfected it after his mom started making him eat something other than ice cream.

He could see the Huntress' eyes grow wide, her cheeks flushed, and her mouth dropped.

Bulls-eye, worked like a charm.

Then she gathered her fists, uh oh.

"WIPE THAT LOOK OFF YOUR UGLY FACE! YOUR MAKING ME FEEL SO IRRITATED!" and then she punched him in the face.

Scratch that, seems that puppy-dog looks don't work on blondie.

She threw a knife at him that was oh so conveniently right on the windowsill, "Just answer my question you stuck-up vampire!"

Huh, seems like someone woke up on the wrong side of the coffin today.

He didn't even have to step aside to avoid the knife. It landed a foot from his head. He just stared at the knife-thrower and said, "You couldn't kill me even if your life depended on it." Even his mom could throw it better than that.

"Shut-up and explain why there are so many vampirexes up and running these days."

"Eh? How should I know?"

Just as she started to retort, the iron bars lifted up from around the room. Gray looked around, unable to comprehend what was going on. _That's strange, don't they announce that Code Black has ended?_

Gray sniffed the air, he only realized what was going on when the girl's door opened.

He eyed the tall, lithe, beautiful, woman with hair the color of the red roses he had at home. He lifted a finger to his mouth, he actually considered her as a potential girlfriend when the blonde huntress HAD to ruin it by one word.

"MOM?" wannabe Buffy nearly shouted.

Gray gagged, _Did she just call that gorgeous woman MOM? Hell, she looks like she's in her early twenties!_

Erza opened her mouth to speak, she seemed worried, then….

She saw him.

Erza's jaw dropped, "Prince Gray!"

Oh great, here it comes…

Lucy's P.O.V.

This was not good.

This was not good at all.

Lucy actually considered jumping out of her window.

When you have Erza for your mom, you DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT, want to get on her bad side.

Getting grounded is like a miracle.

Now a concussion, four broken ribs, a punctured lung, a broken leg, a sprained wrist, and a dislocated shoulder, is what usually happens. Luckily, only one person she had injured had been relieved of their duties as a vampire hunter. Not sure if this makes you feel any better, but it was because the person had lost an arm.

Lucy began fumbling frantically with words, "Mom! Er… this is his highness as you may of known. See, he was uh… taking back the jacket he left here. But then Code Black occurred and we were trapped in here and-"

She was cut off when he mom threw her trusty axe mere millimeters from her head, causing her to pale and freeze to stone.

Erza didn't even turn her head when she threw the axe, she got on one knee and bowed, "Prince Fullbuster, I had not known you were coming, may I ask when we organized a meeting?"

Silence…

The vampire turned to Lucy, smiling, "Oh… riiiiiiight. I am sure your daughter there could tell you about it."

Erza turned her gaze to Lucy, with a lot less respect in her eyes now.

"Lucy, spit it out!" Erza said, pretty straight forwardly.

Lucy was silent for about five seconds.

"Lucy, be a good girl and TELL ME," Erza said through gritted teeth. Oh crap, mother was suspecting something.

"He was the one who jumped through my window," Lucy had her "cool" mask on as she spoke.

Erza raised an eyebrow, "What? Are you saying we didn't have an official meeting?"

Lucy shrugged and jabbed her thumb at Gray, "Go ask his highness. I had an unexpected visitor this evening."

Erza, now getting really annoyed, "Your grace, would you PLEASE tell me WHY you are here?"

Lucy saw him stiffen, ha, that's what you get for jumping in without permission.

"Well you see, I was coming here to pick up a jacket that I left-"

Erza narrowed her eyes, "So you barged into my daughtor's room? Prince Gray, forgive me for interrupting, but I am pretty sure you know our Academy well enough to understand where the front door is."

Lucy stifled a small laugh, mother didn't realize how funny she was sometimes.

Gray held his hands up, "M-ma'am, listen… I was being chased by the vampirex you saw earlier a few minutes after getting out of the palace.. So I had to seek shelter fast. Even us royalty have a hard time dealing with them. I apologize for the trouble it may have caused."

Erza paused, "You were chased by the same one that came to the school?"

Lucy looked at her mother, was she worried?

Gray seemed confused, "Well, yes. I am sorry about leading it here."

Erza bit her thumb, "Vampirexes would never chase after a something for too long. Your castle is quite a distance from here. That is, unless they are confident…"

Gray opened his mouth, about to say something when the door opened again.

Lucy turned around, oh, it was just Wendy.

"E-Erza-san!" the young girl gasped, "Its Hibiki-san, h-he… is turning into a vampire!"

Everyone who was in the room was out the door right after Wendy said vampire.

"What the hell are you running with us for?" Lucy snapped as she saw the black haired guy next to her.

"LUCY! Watch your tongue, plus, it's not the time for this!"

The huntress could only bow to her mother's orders, but she understood.

They ran down a lobby and nearly ran over several nurses and doctors, when they reached the door, they found it locked.

Lucy fumbled with the lock for about a second, then she does what she and mother always do.

Lucy kicked down the door, she just didn't have the patience. Gray seemed to look a little dumbstruck for a second, then let out a snort.

Lucy scanned the room, and her eyes immediately fell upon Hibiki.

Or what used to be Hibiki.

He had turned into a brilliant monster, with bloodied eyes and his canine teeth had become fang-like and long. His fingernails now resembled that of a bear's than of a human's. His muscles were protruding and was currently in a battle against the doctors and nurses.

Wendy whimpered and hid behind Erza, "I don't know what to do," she whispered.

Then, Hibiki and Lucy's eyes met. Lucy only stared at him with her calm orbs, with her forehead slightly crinkled. His pupils immediately narrowed, as if there was a faint recognition. He pushed the doctors roughly aside as he seemed to be fighting a battle against himself.

"What is his condition Wendy?" Lucy asked without taking her eyes off of her brother.

Wendy flinched as if Lucy had grabbed her, "Um… He is on the border-line between changing from a human to a…"

"We know that, but how did it happen? Didn't you guys disinfect the bites?" Erza asked, clearly annoyed and agitated. Lucy didn't blame her, how could the doctors miss it?

"W-We… didn't see it. It must have been barely a skim-"

"It's your job to find those!" Erza snapped. Wendy jerked, as if frightened, then started to cry.

Lucy heard Erza groan, "Listen… sorry I snapped."

Well I'm not, Lucy thought, although she loved Wendy, a bite mark was way too important to miss, and what was the use of crying? She wanted to give the little a girl a lecture too…

One of the doctors handed her a syringe filled with some liquid, "You need to inject this into him within the next two minutes, otherwise, his transformation will be complete."

"Got it," Lucy said while she grabbed the syringe. This was not going to be an easy task, but since when did she ever fail? Heck, she always aced every assignment thrown at her.

She was going to make the first move as always. Lucy lunged toward Hibiki, the syringe ready.

That's when Hibiki lunged too, they were going to collide. Lucy saw this as a perfect chance to insert to medication. Unfortunately, he seemed to realize too, and immediately dodged the other way, toward Erza and Gray.

Oh great.

Erza grabbed Wendy, who squeaked, and leapt aside. Gray just stepped to the side. Lucy was somewhat glad the vampire prince wasn't doing anything, she needed to prove to him that she had the skills.

"Lucy! I will evacuate the doctors and nurses. I will come back as soon as I can to help!" Erza had her voiced raised as she tried to fend off an her attacking son.

Lucy grabbed her gun out and shot at him, as usual she missed by a big gap, but that was her point. She needed to get her brother's attention so Erza could escape with the medics.

"You're going with mom!" Lucy pointed her gun at Gray, "Go, NOW."

He just shrugged, "Suit yourself," and kicked the last doctor out the room.

Lucy didn't even have time to sigh, she saw danger when Hibiki approached the door… or at least the doors she kicked down. She grabbed her whip and took a slash.

Bingo, her whip wrapped around Hibiki's waist. He turned around, snarling. This took Lucy aback, how could the HIbiki snarl, at her? And she turned to the clock. Crap, only half a minute left.

Lucy slammed her brother, who was still caught in her whip, against bookshelf, far away from the door. He barely even reacted.

This was not going well, she needed to get him that medicine fast. Lucy charged, only to get thrown back by a punch in the face. Ouch.

She tried again and again, but she was either defeated each time, or she just couldn't get close. Hibiki was a better hunter than herself, so this wasn't that surprising, but she needed to get needle into him.

Ten seconds left, she thought to herself. It didn't matter how beat up she was, she needed to get him the medicine.

She ran at full speed toward him, and he prepared to kill her.

Lucy leapt in the air at the last second, which seemed to catch him off guard.

But she was knocked over by his fist, she plummeted mere centimeters from HIbiki. Her brother stared at her, then bared his fangs. He was going to bite her.

Lucy didn't have the strength to get up, she felt so dizzy. Her head was probably bleeding. She mustered the strength to lift the syringe up, but her hand was trembling and she wasn't succeeding in more than a few inches.

Then he went for her neck.

Lucy closed her eyes.

5

4

3

2

1

X.x.X

_CLIFFHANGER! Lol_

_Sorry about that XD, I just had to end it there. Seemed right._


	4. TThank YYou

_Ah… I just wanna update this ASAP xP Sorry if I update this somewhat late though! Sorry if this might be a bit dramatic, I was listening to Japanese pop music while writing this time… Oh yeah, I don't own FT!_

_**Actually, I recommend listening to music while reading fanfics. It really gets the mood going!**_

^.^/

X.x.X

* * *

><p><em>Lucy's P.O.V.<em>

It wasn't easy fighting your brother anywhere, especially if any hit you land might cause him to worsen his already severe internal injuries.

There were mere seconds left before Hibiki's transformation completed, and she had no strength left to fight. It was 3 am in the morning and she was being pinned to the ground by a her crazed brother.

Ba-dump…

Ba-dump…

Ba-dump…

Lucy felt her heart beating within her chest, her had shut her eyes as if preparing to sleep. Perhaps, in a way, she was prepared to go into the endless slumber.

But she never felt the impact, she did not feel the pain of her throat being ripped apart by fangs nor did she feel her brother's aura become that of a vampire's.

It took Lucy a few seconds to realize that someone was holding her hand.

She opened her eyes, almost afraid of what she would see. But what did she have to lose now?

What the…

Lucy blinked, and couldn't believe her eyes.

It was him, it was his royal highness, it was that vampire.

It was Gray.

His usual calm and casual look was replaced by something that could be only described as dangerous. His eyebrows were knitted together and his fangs were slightly bared.

But most shockingly, Lucy noticed him holding her hand.

And that hand was holding the syringe that contained that much needed medicine needed for curing Hibiki. Lucy realized that he must have arrived at the last moment, or close to it at least and brought her hand up to insert that medicine into her brother's body just as he was preparing to lunge. She tilted her head slightly and saw the needle sticking into Hibiki's left shoulder blade.

She also realized something else.

He… that vampire… had saved her.

All of this stunned her to the point of letting out a small gasp.

Gray looked down, his face now looking much calmer.

"You okay huntress?"

Lucy could only nod, then turned to look at Hibiki.

Thank goodness, his appearance was returning to normal. His canine teeth were back to regular size. His claws were becoming dull, and his veins weren't protruding anymore.

Then he collapsed. Before he fell on top of Lucy, Gray caught him.

A moment of respectful silence enwrapped them. Lucy sat up, staring at that vampire. His eyes held a stern look, as if ready to face an enemy. That… he had saved her.

She turned her look to her brother. She felt a sudden feel of sadness and longing. How she wished he would be fine. Slightly trembling, she rose to her feet and brought her brother's hands to her cheek. They were warm, he was alive. He wasn't a vampire.

Everything was alright.

Before Lucy could even let out a breath of relief, Erza came running into the room, snatching HIbiki away from Gray.

"God damn it, HIBIKI! Wake up your lazy jerk!" Erza yelled at her son, shaking him by the shoulders as if she was dead set on giving him a seizure.

…

"Your mom is hot, but a total… scary oddity."

"Shut up."

Although Lucy wouldn't admit it, she was grateful to the vampire for saving her life, as well as Hibiki's.

_Gray's P.O.V._

Heh, that girl's family sure is fun to watch.

Gray stifled a snort as he watched the almost-turned-into-vampire-but-sadly-didn't-pretty-boy wake up from the scary oddity's shaking.

"He's awake! He's awake!" the vampire hunter's mother gasped as she hugged her son. But it looked like she was crushing him.

"O-Ow… easy of the ribs…" muttered the guy who almost turned into a vampire. Gray sighed, why did he save the guy anyway? One more vampire would do the world some good.

Doctors and nurses began rushing in again, they immediately began preparing his bed and inspecting his wounds.

"T-Thank… you…"

Hmm?

Gray turned to see hunter girl, obviously trying to avoid his gaze. Did she just say…

He felt the corners of his mouth lift, "What did you say?"

It was so amusing to watch her cheeks turn beet red, how _cute…_

She faced him defiantly, but that blush just made it look so… _endearing_. He felt his smirk get wider.

"I said t-thank you, BAKA. So what if I-I can? Y-You saved Hibiki and m-my life. I at least s-should s-s-say… argh…" she trailed off, turning even redder. She was still facing him, but her eyes were directed downwards, and her hands were clenched into tiny fists at her sides.

Gray studied her appearance, this was not a side to the huntress that he had ever seen. Embarrassed, vulnerable, cute, yet she still had her defiance.

Before he could even control himself, he placed used his hand to hold one of her balled up hands. He felt a tremor of shock convulse through her.

"You're welcome, you did good," Gray couldn't believe what was coming out of his mouth. He wanted to make a witty comment like he always did, but instinct made him do something else.

He felt his eyes soften as he looked at her, a gentler smile tugged at his lips. He saw her eyes suddenly open up, stretching out wide and big, as if shocked. Her mouth was slightly open.

Slap. The huntress slapped his hand away as she took a step back.

He was quite shocked himself, but didn't let it show. He looked at his red hand indifferently, "Ouch."

"Don't do strange things like that," the huntress spoke harshly, but her embarrassment softened the tone.

He looked at her, what a strange person. "Huh? Is that the thanks I get for saving you and that guy's life? Cause you know…" he paused, eyeing her with mischief, "Actions speak louder than words."

He watched her pupils widen slightly and mentally laughed. Blondie gritted her teeth and shot him a look that reminded him of… well her.

She started to turn around, "You better stop acting all smart, or I'll hate you for life."

"Don't you already?"

He watched her storm off. Before he could even call out a warning, she ran into the wall.

"Pffft," he couldn't help it, that was just funny.

The hunter immediately fell down, both hands clutching her forehead, "Oww…" he heard her mutter.

She didn't give him the time to talk, the hunter immediately got back up and stomped out the room, now more wary. She was still clutching her forehead.

Gray shook his head, he didn't know what to think of her anymore.

He glanced at the guy named Hibiki, he was now resting in the bed with the red haired mother standing by him, barking orders at the doctors and nurses.

He looked down at his outfit, well, at least he had his coat back now. He could leave.

Gray clucked his tongue, great, now he had to go back home and do all those things a heir was supposed to do.

He almost didn't want to go, it was quite fun here with that blondie.

Then, with a slight breeze, he disappeared.

No one in the room noticed.

_Lucy's P.O.V._

Lucy had flopped down onto her bed, completely exhausted, confused, and humiliated. How dare he tease her like that!

She had just realized that this entire time, she had her black nightgown on. Ugh… she didn't even have time to look intimidating.

She clutched her blanket around her, she felt her blush still tingling on her cheeks.

Why did he have to be like that? What did that arrogant jerk have to act and talk so weirdly? It made her feel… vulnerable. She never experienced someone like that. She was unprepared to go into a battle against him, how could she, when she had never met another person like that?

"Idiot. Jerk. Bastard. Weirdo vampire. Mr.I-think-I-am-so-smart." She muttered.

She looked at her right hand, the hand that he had held. His touch felt cold, as if he had no body heat. And that gentle look and smile, she didn't know he was capable of producing that…

Suddenly, Lucy threw the blankets over her head and squeezed her eyes shut. Stupid! What was she thinking? Why was she letting him occupy her thoughts like that?

She opened her eyes slightly, she really did hate him, but what was with him? Seriously, her life was so much more organized before she ever met him.

Then, Lucy drifted into a deep slumber.

* * *

><p>X.x.X<p>

_Ah… sorry that this is so short! But I will be focusing on this story out of the rest of my stories for now! I will probably be updating much more frequently!_


	5. Natsu x Lucy? or not?

_Don't have much to say, but thanks for all the reviews! ^O^_

^.^/

X.x.X

"Now you just jump as high as you can, try to get a boost by getting a running start and jumping off of something, then when you feel yourself reach the highest point, flip over and land on your feet with your knees slightly bent."

Lucy looked at her audience, checking if she had their attention.

Her "audience" consisted of Wendy and Romeo, two kids in their middle school ages.

Not exactly a very big audience.

But you could hardly complain, not many people want to send their kids to be vampire hunters. Being a vampire hunter means that you could die any day, I mean think about it, pretty obvious. Also, the guild doesn't give you any money for a living, so you basically earn money from going on missions. But the possibility of returning alive is kinda… low in comparison to not going on a mission.

There were four trainees in the guild, two that are teenagers and two that are still kids, and so far, Romeo was completely asleep. Wendy was perked and listening.

Naturally, Lucy began to feel pissed, she walked over to Romeo's side.

"ROMEO! Where art thou Romeo!" Lucy hissed into his ear.

"HOLY SHI-" Romeo stopped midsentence.

Lucy glared at him from above, daring him to say the word.

He gulped, "Er… I uh. I was really awake. I-I was just imagining how it would, uh, look if I-"

"Cool story bro," Lucy interrupted, "Next time I catch you I am going to send you to Erza."

Romeo visibly paled.

Out of nowhere, Natsu appeared, slumping his arm onto Lucy's shoulder, almost knocking her over.

"Don't worry Romeo," he said, grinning, "She always says that, but she never does that."

Lucy recovered quickly from her shock, "N-Natsu! What are you doing here? I thought you helping out Loke!"

Natsu shot her a thumbs up, "Loke kicked me out after I mixed up his deodorant with his shampoo."

Lucy was silent, Romeo burst out laughing. Wendy couldn't help but giggle.

Finally, Lucy spoke, "How… just how can you so careless you baka!" she jabbed her index finger into his chest. It was kinda difficult though, since Natsu still had his arm around her.

His grin turned kinda sheepish, "Well, he told me to get his black shampoo bottle. And well… I got it, but I just got the first black bottle I saw in his cabinet."

Lucy groaned, "Are you kidding me Natsu? Every freaking bottle of whatever he has is black, haven't you noticed?"

Natsu's eyes turned small, "Eh? Really?"

_He is really such an idiot… Is he really the rumored next S-class hunter? _Lucy shook her head in disappointment.

"Those goggles suit y-you, Natsu-san," Wendy said softly.

Lucy peered up at the goggles on Natsu's forehead, huh? Those were the Christmas presents that she sent him the other day.

Natsu laughed, "Thanks, Wendy. They're a gift from Lucy."

Lucy smirked, bringing her face closer to Natsu's, poking his goggles, "Don't mention it."

Romeo yawned, "God, you guys should just go out. You are already like a couple."

Lucy twitched, "What was that twerp?"

Romeo shrugged, "Seriously, you guys should look at yourselves. Hand around her shoulder, teasing, you got yourself a perfect pair of lovebirds."

Lucy punched him in the noggin right after he finished his sentence, "Watch your mouth kid."

Natsu cracked up, holding his stomach, "Its (laugh) fine Lucy!"

Lucy didn't hear him, "Get it straight, Natsu and I are NOT in a relationship!"

All the people passing by looked in her direction.

Romeo looked around awkwardly, "Err… that was… uh, really loud Lucy."

Wendy nodded, "Yeah."

Lucy couldn't take it anymore, "That's it," she flung her hands into the air, exasperated, "You two, review what I taught you. Romeo, borrow Wendy's notes if you have to."

She walked away as if nothing had happened.

Natsu sighed, his arms behind his head, "Look at what you did now Romeo… Can't you stop talking for even a moment?"

Romeo smiled, "Yeah, but Lucy has become more fun these days."

Wendy nodded, her pigtails bobbing up and down.

Natsu turned around, confused, "What?"

Romeo rolled his eyes. Wendy giggled, she winked at him, "Natsu-san, haven't you noticed?" she paused for a more dramatic effect.

"Ever since vampire prince, Gray Fullbuster, came to this academy, Lucy has been showing a lot more enthusiasm."

Lucy walked calmly through the crowd, saying hi to a senior hunter every now and then.

In truth, she was fuming.

That, that idiot Romeo! He made her into a fool in front of all those people! Her reputation would be forever injured!

Okay, maybe that was a little dramatic, but her reputation was on the line.

"Lucy!"

Lucy turned around, Natsu?

He was racing toward her, out of breath.

Lucy raised an eyebrow, "Got something to say Natsu?"

He nodded furiously, but didn't manage to say anything.

She tapped her foot impatiently, "Well if you're going to say something, say it!"

"Who's this Fullbuster prince guy?" he burst out.

That startled Lucy, why him of all people?

"What relationship do you have with him? Are you guys friends?" Natsu asked.

Lucy felt a vein twitch, friends?

"No way in hell would we EVER be FRIENDS," she declared, cracking her knuckles, "Just thinking about that guy makes me wanna kill something." An irritated look flashed across her eyes.

Natsu paused for a second, then cracked up.

Lucy looked at him weirdly, "What?"

He wiped away a tear, "Nothing, nothing, everything is fine."

Lucy wondered what the heck was up with him, but Natsu had always been a bit weird in the head.

"Natsu! Lucy! Thank goodness, I've finally found you!"

Lucy turned around, it was mom.

Natsu paled visibly, "H-Hi Erza, what's going on?"

Lucy smirked, every time Natsu saw Erza, he acted like he was facing his last moments on earth.

Erza ignored the two, and then pointed to the two teenagers, "Listen, master has called for you two."

Both vampire hunters slightly flinched when Erza pointed to them.

"What? I swear, I wasn't the one who-"

Lucy slapped her hand onto Natsu's mouth, geez, that idiot really knew how to launch himself into the middle of trouble.

"Understood," Lucy replied.

Erza smiled slyly, she had trained her daughter well. Nice and straightforward.

Lucy dragged Natsu off by his scarf, much to his protests. She didn't listen to any of that though.

_What in the world did the head master want them for?_

"Youngsters! It's time for an important mission!" Master Makarov declared, standing on top of his desk.

"AWESOME!" Natsu yelled, pumped up. On the other hand, Lucy's face remained passive, though she was curious and quite excited as well.

"What kind of mission, Master Makarov?" Lucy inquired, her big brown eyes quite curious.

Makarov went into a state of bliss, hopping over and patting Lucy's head, "Aww… Lucy, you're already so old! You're a big girl now, I remember like it was just yesterday when you were carrying your bunny doll all over the place!"

Lucy couldn't help but blush, why the hell did he have to bring it up "M-Master! Please, let's focus on the-"

Makarov completely ignored her and immediately went to his drawer and got out a really cute looking bunny doll, it was white with pink cheeks.

Natsu gaped, "Is that really…?"

Makarov was in a triumphant stance, "YES! This is bunny-chan! From Lucy's childhood!"

Natsu stared dumbly, "I seriously thought she destroyed it, or at least, that's what Lucy told me she did…"

Lucy waved her hands around frantically, trying to get the bunny out of Master Makarov's hands, and ultimately failing. "Master! Please! Don't say such things!"

"Hohoho, it has really been a while since I have seen Lucy act so cute!" Master Makaroc exclaimed.

"MASTER! Please stop this nonsense at once!"

Lucy frozed, there was someone in the room? She looked behind Master Makarov and breathed a sigh of relief, it was just Mirajane.

Mirajane was about the same age as mom, in her early thirties, but they both looked like they were in their early twenties. Mirajane was one of the best S-class vampire hunters, but then… well something happened. She didn't know what, never bothered.

"Master!" Mirajane repeated, a hand on her waist, "This is not the time to be fooling around!"

Master muttered something under his breath that vaguely sounded like "party pooper".

He handed the bunny to Lucy, which she gladly took, "Take care of it Lucy!"

Lucy stared at the bunny before she strapped it onto her belt, she was secretly happy. Her stuffed animal was a very prized possession of her's. According to Erza, she had it when she was in the orphanage. Lucy did not remember who gave it to her, but she was very protective of it. Then when she was eleven, it somehow disappeared. She searched for it for days, and even cried secretly in her room.

"But I am curious Lucy," Mirajane looked at the bunny, "Master, how did you find it? I thought that Lucy threw it away, that's what she told everyone."

Master smiled smugly, "She dropped it when she was training, and I happened to pick it up. But she acted to indifferent to bunny-chan, I wanted to teach her a lesson. So I hid it for a few days, but then I forgot about it…" he ended the last part quite sheepishly.

Lucy couldn't help but smile softly, though she only did it for a heartbeat so no one saw.

"Gramps, before you forget anything else important, what was the mission for?" Natsu whined impatiently.

Makarov snapped his fingers, "Oh yeah! It's an important mission, I need you two to go to the royal castle."

Lucy was confused, "Royal castle? What royal…" realization struck her, "Wait… you couldn't mean the Fullbuster-"

"Exactly, Lucy, spot on as usual!" Makarov shot her a thumbs up, "We need you two to go there!"

Natsu pumped his fist into the air, "Awesome! An important mission! No one ever gets to go there!"

"WHAT?" Lucy screeched, everyone turned to look at her weirdly. Lucy never complains about the mission even if it means scrubbing filth. A mission that allows you to meet the royal vampire family is rare and usually very honorable, so there should not have been a reason for anyone to not want to go.

Lucy, realizing her error, quickly managed to cover up, "I mean, I have never gone there before and I heard about the vampirexes there so I thought it wouldn't be safe." No, she just really did not want to see his royal arrogance

Makarov nodded sympathetically, "Yes, anyone can be worried about those vampirexes, but that is the exact reason why I am sending you there."

Natsu cocked his head sideways, "What? Shouldn't we be avoiding them?"

Master Makarov shook his head, "For some reason, vampirexes are increasing dramatically in numbers. Even the royal family is not safe because the vampirexes seem to be the most in population there."

Lucy nodded, true. Even vampires can't defeat the vampirexes easily. This treaty between humans and vampires was created mainly by Master Makarov and Queen Ur because they have a very good friendship, although many disapproved. Because Master Makarov and Queen Ur care very much for each other's wellbeing, such offers of assistance would be expected.

"Along with this, you would also be asked to protect the villages around the castle, they do not have much protection."

Lucy blinked, "But Master, sending only two people like us is really a lot of work. Plus we're not even S-class yet."

Master shook his finger, "That's the think Lucy, Natsu. I am sending you two only because all of our hunters are working full time. Fairy Tail does not have enough people experienced enough to complete such jobs. Erza is being sent out soon to protect the villagers, along with Bisca, Cana, Elfman, and basically everyone. I am staying behind with Laxus to protect the guild. Other guilds are also helping out, but there is simply not enough. Natsu, Lucy, you two are talented enough to be considered S-class already."

Makarov closed his eyes, then opened them, "That's why I am sending two of my most promising children to the most dangerous point to the castle. It is a chance for you to prove yourselves as well as a chance to save many lives."

Natsu and Lucy exchanged looks. Natsu grinning, Lucy smirking slightly.

Lucy turned to Master Makaroc, a hand on her hip, "Oh course, you can always trust us to complete the mission with a flourish."

Natsu cracked his knuckles, "When will we be going?"

Makarov smiled, those two were definitely the pride of Fairy Tail.

"Now."

_Gray's P.O.V._

Yawn.

"Please your highness! You must get everything done!" begged a poor butler, otherwise known as Gerald. He was wearing a classic butler's suit and had black hair that was quite unruly.

He lifted his feet and placed them on top of his desk, making Gerald wince.

Gray yawned again, "Come on Gerald, you know paper work is boring. Plus, those parties, ugh. I just want to die when I attend one of those."

Gerald bit his handkerchief, crying lakes of tears, "Please Gray-sama! Just finish the paper work! It is all due tomorrow. You abandoned the castle one day to get your coat back, we could have just sent someone for you!"

Gray leaned back in his chair, smirking. Oh Gerald was so fun to tease.

"Oh but I couldn't, there was a certain kitten I had to visit…" he said rather mischievously, obviously referring to a certain blondie.

"Eh?" Gerald paused his crying, "Kitten? I didn't know you liked kittens."

Gray laughed, oh the idiot was so dense.

"But please Prince Fullbuster, you must get your work done! Otherwise the queen will get angry and then the world would end!" Gerald started freaking out as he always did.

Gray snorted, lord, this guy would probably die if he didn't take his medication each day, he was always so nervous.

Just as Gerald was about to wail about something else, someone knocked at the door.

Gerald quickly dried his tears, and turned to Gray.

Gray sighed, "Come in."

The door opened, oh, it was just his older brother, Lyon.

He had his gray hair spiked up as usual, he had a rather impatient look on his face.

"Gerald, you may be dismissed. I need to talk with Gray."

Gray looked at Lyon, his eyes questioning.

Gerald sniffled, "But…"

"Do I need to speak twice?" Lyon glared at Gerald, who squeaked.

"N-No of course not Prince Lyon. I-I'll be going n-now," Gerald scurried out, distancing himself from Lyon.

The door closed.

Then the two brothers erupted into laughter.

Lyon flopped down onto the sofa, "You're lucky to have such a puny butler, their so easy to tease."

Gray walked over and sat on a couch next to Lyon, still laughing, "Pretty awesome huh?"

As their laughter died down, Lyon turned to Gray, smirking. Their smirk was one many things the two brothers had in common.

"Heard you got screwed after trying to escape the castle."

Gray grunted, "So its spread already huh? I was just retrieving my coat."

Lyon ran his fingers through his hair, "But this is the castle we're talking about."

Gray shrugged, "Whatever, anyways, what was it you needed to talk about? You looked quite impatient there."

Lyon jabbed his thumb at the place where Gerald would usually stand in Gray's room, "It was to scare the butler. But yes, I do have something to tell you." He leaned closer.

Gray did the same.

"A hot human girl had just arrived at the castle," he said, licking his fangs.

Gray stared at his brother, disappointed, "That's it. I thought mom had one of her rampages again."

Lyon waved his hand at Gray, dismissingly, "It's not just any human Gray, I noticed," he paused for a dramatic effect, "that she has your scent, although it's very faint."

Gray paused, what? What kind of hot human girl would have his scent on her? He never bothered with humans…

Wait a second, unless Lyon was talking about blondie. Gray's eyes widened with sudden comprehension.

Lyon tapped his fingers impatiently, "So?"

Gray turned to his brother, "Is she blonde?"

Lyon grinned, "So you do know her!"

Gray let out a short laugh, "Long story bro."

Lyon wasn't willing to give up just yet, "Come on Gray! She had your SCENT over her, I need an explanation."

Gray groaned, "Alright, I'll tell. God you're annoying."

Lyon was all ears.

Gray felt his eyes travel to the ceiling, "Hmm, so it was four days ago. I first met her while Juvia and I were sent to capture the Ex-vampires. I left my coat there, and when I went back two days ago to get it back, she had it on her by accident. That's probably why you could smell my scent on her."

Lyon look disappointed, "Is that really it? No secret forbidden love or any of that other stuff girls drool over?"

Gray looked at him incredulously, "Seriously? You think I would like HER?"

Lyon smirked, "Well, you're not exactly a rule follower."

Gray rolled his eyes, true enough.

"LYON, GRAY! GET YOUR ASSES DOWN HERE!" someone screeched from above.

They both cringed.

Mom, they thought in unison.

_Lucy's P.O.V._

Natsu was cowering behind her.

Probably from Queen Ur's scary yelling.

Lucy was quite surprised, she had expected someone more…. pompous.

Well, she is Master Makarov's friend and the supreme ruler over her people.

Queen Ur's husband died years ago, so the royal family was a matriarchy. Lucy liked her already, Queen Ur was strong and commanding, like Erza. She was beautiful too. She was wearing a long, sleevless black dress that poured out like flower petals on the ends.

Lucy felt somewhat like a duck compared to as swan when she was in her presence. She couldn't help but glimpse at her own usual clothes. A short black vest over a white top that ended wrapped her breasts (thanks for the fashion advice mom), and a pair of black shorts with a belt. Oh yeah, and a pouch for her things that wrapped around her thighs.

So basically, classic vampire hunter teenager compared to an elegant vampire queen.

See the difference?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden appearance of two vampires next to her, she flinched.

Damn their teleporting abilities.

_Great_, Lucy wanted to kill herself, _Gray just had to be in the palace. I actually hoped he'd be out on a mission or something…_

Then there was a guy she didn't recognize with spiked up grey hair, _that must be Prince Lyon,_ thought Lucy.

Queen Ul threw the closest thing at her sons, which happened to be a giant vase.

Lyon caught it easily.

"YOU TWO IDIOTS! YOU KNEW THERE WERE VISITORS! WHY DID YOU MAKE US WAIT FOR TEN FREAKING MINUTES?" Queen Ur was on a rage, her demonic aura strangely visible.

Lyon shrugged, "Sorry mom, lost track of time."

Queen Ur sat up, knocking her chair over, "WHO THE HECK TAKES THAT LONG?"

Gray coughed, "Visitors mom…"

Lucy watched as Queen Ur looked at them with surprise, as if just noticing them for the first time.

She put on a sparkly smile, "Hello, Lucy and Natsu and presume? Welcome to the Fullbuster castle, give my thanks to Master Makarov too."

Lucy and Natsu were both blown away by the Queen's sudden transformation.

Gee, this vampire family was MESSED up.

She thought that her's was already pretty messed up too.

Natsu gawked, Lucy punched him in the face. Even her idiot brothers know what NOT to do when you are in the presence of royalty.

Lucy bowed, she wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. "Thank you for allowing us to assist you. We will be on our way to find somewhere to stay in the village nearby."

Just as Lucy turned to walk away, someone snagged her shirt.

She turned around.

Gray had taken hold of her vest.

"Oh no you don't," he said slyly.

Lucy swallowed her anger and irritation, "Why is that YOUR HIGHNESS?"

He turned to Queen Ur.

Queen Ur smiled, "How could we let our guests receive nothing but the best?"

Gray turned back to Lucy and whispered, "Protocol."

Lucy sneaked a glare at him. But still, she did not like where this conversation was going.

Queen Ur opened her arms with a welcome, "You will receive the best rooms in the palace, which would be the rooms of my children."

…

SAY WHAT?

X.x.X

_Ick… finally finished this chapter =.= I was on for hours at a time._

_Comments! ^.^/_


	6. Room Business and Ultear

_Writing is soo refreshing! Thanks for the positive feedback!_

^.^/

* * *

><p>X.x.X<p>

Lucy felt everyone look at her.

Well, she might have perhaps by accident shouted SAY WHAT?

Queen Gray looked at her strangely. Gray looked smug, while Lyon chuckled.

Natsu gaped at her, as if he couldn't believe that she had just lost her cool in front of a crowd, which he probably didn't.

Lucy waved her hands frantically, crap crap crap crap.

"Forgive me your highness!" she bowed three times, desperately, "I did not mean to speak out like that! I just thought that your offer was way too kind for commoners like us! Dukes and earls wouldn't even be given this kind of offer-"

Queen Ur interrupted, amused, she loved this girl already, "No need to worry about that. No one would dare defy my orders in the court. Plus," she eyed the two human teenagers, "you two are special."

Natsu cocked his head, as if confused. Special?

Queen Ur continued, "Natsu Dragneel, you are one of the most talented, if not the most talented hunter of your generation. You were trained by a dragon, a legendary creature that even us vampires bow to, and have inherited mythical skills that only a few in the world have."

Natsu grinned sheepishly, scratching his cheek.

Lucy hit his back, hard. Her intention were to make him bow, though, it looked quite painful.

Queen Ur smiled at Lucy, she wasn't the stereotypical, soft, teenage girl, "And you Lucy…"

Lucy perked up.

"… are the daughter of Erza Scarlett, otherwise known as Titania. You have inherited her valuable skills and have already earned yourself the reputation as -"

Pfft.

Queen Ur turned to glare at Gray, who let out that UNFORGIVING noise.

Lucy turned to glare at him, but she could not believe that Queen Ur had actually said that in front of… them.

Lucy turned to Queen Ur again, "But your majesty… I am not fitting of such honor! And plus…" Lucy hesitated briefly before saying her carefully chosen words, "Us humans… have a bit of a… tendency to not sleep in the same bed nor room as those of the opposite gender."

Queen Ur stared, as if she had not known that, which she probably didn't.

Queen Ur thought about it, "Well us vampires don't really regard the gender of the personal that we share the same bed with at night…"

Natsu brightened, "I don't mind!"

Lucy lifted her heel and smashed it unto Natsu's foot, her face emotionless. Natsu gagged.

Lucy couldn't help it, the idiot was making everything worse.

Queen Ur scratched her hair, "I apologize deeply Lucy… but my daughter, Ultear, has a bit of a fetish over collecting things… and she kind of… uh…"

Lyon filled in for his mom, "What mom is trying to say, Ultear practices forbidden magic that should not be used within three feet of anyone. She is currently grounded and Ultear hates it when others come in her room."

Queen Ur fiddled with her fingers, "Yeah… that pretty much sums it up."

Lucy could only say one thing.

"Oh."

Queen Ur beamed with confidence, "But you'll see, Lucy-chan, you'll be used to our ways before you know it! I am sure it'll be a great time to learn something too!" Queen Ur grew up without the customs of separation between a guy and girl, so she saw it, as well as the rest of the vampires, as something normal and that would be easily accustomed to.

Lucy was speechless.

"So it is my command as the Queen," Queen Ur continued, "To give our guests the best quality quarters!" she shot a peace sign at her court.

…

Lucy couldn't believe that this had just happened to her.

. . . . . . . . . .

Lucy stalked down the hallway, glaring and distancing herself from Gray.

She stuck close to Lyon and was dragging Natsu next to her.

Gray snorted, this was her way of thanking him after saving her life the other day? Great, just great.

Lyon laughed awkwardly, "Well… I am guessing you and I are sleeping in a room then… Lucy?"

Lucy stopped glaring at Gray, put her poker face on, and turned to Lyon.

"No way in hell am I sleeping with any vampire."

...

Lyon did not know what to think of this new girl. Weird? Creepy? Vampire-hater? Emotionless? Nonetheless, she seemed dead set on not sleeping with either of them. Geez, humans and their sexist ways. He always heard that they had different locker rooms from each other and didn't bathe with each other, but seriously. This was just sharing a ROOM. What's wrong with girls and guys sharing things anyways?

Nobody talked for the rest of the way, at least until they stopped at the highest floor. They were in the middle of three rooms. One had _LYON _written on it_, _the other had_ GRAY, _and the last had_ ULTEAR._

"So…" Gray trailed off and leaned against his door, Lyon leaned against his door at the same time.

Natsu stared at the perfect coordination. Lucy crossed her arms together, and tapped her foot.

She turned to Lyon, doing a pretty good job of ignoring Gray.

"I have a request, your royal highness," Lucy mentally crossed her fingers.

Lyon smirked, "For a beautiful girl, I would do anything."

Lucy hated people that flirted, much thanks to Loke and Hibiki, but managed to ignore it, also thanks to Loke and Hibiki.

"May Natu and I share a room while you and your… um brother share a room," Lucy asked, with a hint of timidness in her voice. You couldn't blame her, she was asking a favor from the eldest son of the royal family.

"What?" Gray raised an eyebrow. Lyon looked quite startled. Natsu stared at Lucy, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Are you okay Lucy?" Natsu asked with concern, god if it weren't so awkward, it would have been funny.

Lucy looked around awkwardly, "Like… I can't really share the same room with someone I barely know. This idiot right here," she jabbed her thumb at Natsu.

"Hey!" Natsue cried out with indignation.

Lucy disregarded him, "I have known him we shared the same babysitter. I would feel much more comfortable with him."

Lyon exchanged a look with Gray, a look that Lucy could never decode even if her life depended on it. Probably some brother thing.

Lyon only shook his head, "Sorry Lucy, but if you haven't realized, which you probably haven't…"

"… Lyon and I can't stand each other," Gray finished with a look of disgust.

Lyon sniffed and returned the look.

Lucy stared at the two vampires, "You two, can't stand each other?"

They both shrugged at the same time.

"Listen Lucy, we might get along most of the time, but if I stay in the same room with him for more than an hour…"

Gray continued Lyon's sentence, "… Then there are sure to be at least some part of the castle blown off."

"Trust us, mom has experimented several times," they said simultaneously.

Lucy and Natsu both exchanged a look, hmm…

Natsu turned to Gray, his voice challenging, "How the heck do you guys not get along. You guys even TALK at the same time."

The shrugged in unison, "It's a brother thing."

Natsu glared at the vampires, Lucy could tell that their whole talking together thing was getting on his nerves too.

Lucy put her hand on her hip, "Then what are we going to do? I am fine as long as I don't sleep with GUYS."

Gray clucked his tongue, what a shame. He would have had a better time making fun of her that way. She'd make a perfect teasing pair with his butler, Gilbert.

Lyon couldn't help but allow his gaze to travel to Ultear's room, "You know… I know that Ultear is kinda… off these days but… it's not like we have any other options."

Gray stared at his brother as if he were crazy.

Lyon held his hands up slightly, "I know, I know, I should take that back. But Lucy does NOT want to stay in any of our rooms. Ultear is at least a girl."

Gray nodded, then turned to Lucy, "It's your funeral then."

Lyon sighed, "She was actually quite cute."

"She was pretty fun to make fun of too," Gray said regrettably.

"I wonder if she has a will, maybe there's some money on it for us."

"Probably since I practically saved her life the other day."

The next thing the two princes felt, was a heel in the gut and a fist in the face.

"Don't talk like I'm dead," she spoke with a murderous intent.

"She means it," Natsu whispered, then went hiding behind a pillar, which was a smart move cause Lucy tried to punch him right after he said that.

"Anyways, how bad can Ultear be? I mean, she's a princess right?" Lucy stared at Ultear's room, no weird vibe seemed to radiate from it, just a lot of vampire aura.

Gray rubbed his jaw as he stood up, a slap mark clearly visible, "Let's put it this way blondie…"

Lyon groaned as he stood up, "Ultear hates girls… like hates them to hell."

Lucy stared at them, yeah right. She didn't believe one word of what they said.

Natsu walked out timidly, "I don't think you should believe them. She's a princess so she should be kind and all…"

Lucy nodded, the idiot made sense for once.

"I am going to stay in Princess Ultear's room," she declared with confidence.

The princes sighed, "It's your funeral."

. . . . . . . . . .

Lucy opened the door, she had to admit, she almost believed the vampire princes.

Almost.

Natsu had been dragged away by Gray and Lyon when she opened Ultear's door, like they were facing World War 2 or something.

She couldn't be that bad could she?

Lucy stepped in, it was beautiful and enchanting. Icicles decorated the room, they were carved into roses. Then, there were objects that looked like great great great grandfathers of the ancients and extremely modern and futuristic things that she couldn't even describe.

Just as she was admiring everything, she heard a footstep. It was light and weak, but a footstep.

Then the door closed.

Lucy spun around, who was there?

She came face to face with a beautiful girl with long black hair and equally dark eyes. She had long black hair that flowed as if blown by the wind. Her skin with creamy white, like she had never seen the sunlight.

And she resembled Queen Ur.

Lucy barely managed to stifle a gasp. She didn't even have time to move. It took her a few seconds to recognize the girl, it was Princess Ultear.

"Who are you?" Ultear spoke softly, but with a deadly grip.

Lucy answered with such calmness, you couldn't tell that she nearly had a heart attack, "Lucy Scarlett."

Then a scream came from the room.

. . . . . . . . . .

_Lyon's P.O.V._

Well… this was a relatively new experience.

So first he meets this hot blonde chick who turns out to be badass and has an awesome poker face.

Now she actually GOES into Ultear's room despite his warning.

And as usual, they hear screaming, like they were about to get killed or something, which is usually what happens.

But here's the catch.

When the Lucy starts to scream, Natsu practically drags himself and Gray along with him and charges into Ultear's room.

Even his brother and him didn't have time to react, which is unusual cause that red-haired freak is a human.

Now this red haired idiot is screaming his freaking lungs out, calling out for Lucy again and again.

He swore, this guy had some hyperactive disorder.

Lyon was about the punch him, Gray was too, but that's when they saw something in the corner.

No scratch that, we saw TWO things on the bed.

We crept closer, and the most amazing thing happened.

Ultear, his emo antisocial crazy little sister, was cuddling the blondie like there was no tomorrow. She had a look of pure bliss like a cat purring, the last time he had seen her smile like that was… well never.

He stared in amazement.

That's when the human girl started to fidget uncomfortably. She wasn't doing a very good job at hiding her embarrassment either. She was blushing rather… a lot.

"H-Hey! Don't do that! That's my chest!" she stuttered and stammered. She tried prying Ultear off, and ultimately failing.

Then Lyon started to smirk, he had to, the sight was almost ridiculous.

Ultear was freaking purring like a cat, "You're so cute!" she squealed, "You're cool personality rocks! You are soooo soft!"

The only thing he could think of was… Wow.

"N-Natsu! Help me!" the poor girl cried. Well, "Natsu" just stared.

Natsu turned to Gray, and spoke quite dumbly, "I thought she was deadly."

Gray cocked his head, "Yeah, she was. This is quite a… discovery."

Lyon couldn't agree more.

Lyon chuckled, "You're on your own Lucy. I wouldn't try to pry her off of you, she might act all fuzzy towards you for whatever reason, but she is kinda like a mix between a rhino and an ox with us."

Gray snapped his fingers, "True, true."

Finally, Lucy threw Ultear off of her, she didn't hesitate to scramble off the bed and hid behind Gray. Lyon had to admit, this girl had some spunk in her.

His brother smirked, "I didn't know you trusted me so much huntress."

She snapped, Lyon had never seen any girl snap at his brother before, "I am "hiding" behind you so if she does get to me, you'll be gone first."

_Oh that was a good comeback_, Lyon thought, _I need to write that down somewhere._

Ultear was smiling like a cat, "Luuuuuuuuuucy-chaaaaaaaaaaan! I wanna play!"

Then a game of cat and mouse began.

The human girl ran around the room, trying to avoid Ultear who was chasing her.

Lyon was tempted to trip the blondie, but didn't. He felt sorry for her, hell, he would be running like mad if Ultear ever started chasing him.

Then of course, mom came to the rescue.

She was dressed in her weird gothic outfit as usual, "Kids! I need to know what our guests need!"

Then she froze as she saw the chase.

Gray and Lyon shrugged at the same time, "Wasn't me."

Natsu tiptoed behind us, what a fraidy-cat… or maybe he was actually smart to creep away right now.

Then mom blew it.

"ULTEAR!"

. . . . . . . . . .

_Lucy's P.O.V._

This was crazy, absolutely crazy.

She hid behind Gray, scared to come out. That VAMPIRE princess had tried to… well she didn't know. But whatever Ultear had tried to do, it wasn't something that a straight person would do.

Then Queen Ur came in at a great time.

She ditched the chase and hide behind the almighty vampire queen.

She huddled behind the fuming queen.

"Ultear, what the HELL are you doing to our guest!" Queen Ur, pointed her finger at her daughter.

Lucy was bristling like a cat behind the queen, definitely upset.

Ultear narrowed her eyes, "Is that any of your business you old hag?"

Lucy froze, did Ultear just call her mom a hag?

The queen exploded.

"ULTEAR, THIS HAS GONE WAY TOO FAR," Ur raged, then she grabbed her daughter, who didn't even have time to react. Then she froze her, like she used some magic and froze her into a freaking block of ice. Lucy's eyes nearly bulged out.

Then, she teleported away.

Lyon clucked his tongue, "Ultear is really gonna get it now."

Gray sighed, "I wonder what the punishment is this time. Last time I had to stand in a blizzard for a week without food nor water."

Lucy flinched away, then grabbed Natsu.

"W-What?" Natsu stammered.

She whispered into his ear, "We are stranded in a castle full of lunatics. How about sneaking out?"

Natsu stared at her, "But Queen Ur already passed the order. If we reject it, then it'll be a serious offense," he whispered back.

Lucy grunted, "Well, would you rather choose a door of certain death, or another door where you can actually have a chance of walking out alive?"

Suddenly, a hand fell onto Lucy's head. Same with Natsu. It didn't hurt, but it scared the living daylights out of them.

"We can hear you if you have forgotten, our hearing is better than a normal human's," Gray spoke in a bored voice.

Lucy and Natsu both glared at him.

Natsu slapped Gray's hand away and looked at him eye to eye, "Graciously accepted, YOUR HIGHNESS."

Gray sneered at Natsu, "Of course."

Lucy scowled at Gray, no one messes or makes fun of their team.

Lyon manages to add to the tension, but it seems like he was trying to break it, "So… what about the rooms?"

Lucy tenses up.

Gray shrugged, "I don't really care at this point. All I know is that blondie doesn't want to stay in Ultear's room anymore." Then he smirked, "Well, we weren't actually expecting that kind of reaction from our little sister. She usually murders them first, not hug them to death or try to molest them."

Lucy's face flushed, how dare they? "Princess Ultear was not trying to molest me, she was just… overly friendly."

"Point taken, she was trying to molest you."

Lucy glared then turned to Natsu, "Would you mind using your flamethrower now?"

Natsu nodded, even he was pissed off, "Sure." He grabbed out a pistol. It wasn't a regular flamethrower, it was more portable. Natsu received this high-tech device after years of intense training with fire. Plus, his training with a dragon made him receive it earlier than most. Very few people receive a flamethrower like so because it is rather difficult to aim appropriately, so they receive it at around their thirties.

Natsu received it when he was ten.

Prodigy isn't he? Lucy crossed her arms smugly as she watched Gray's eyes widen with surprise when he saw the weapon. Lyon did a double take.

Then, Gray returned back to his calm state, "It doesn't matter."

Natsu twitched, was he doubting his power? "This isn't a regular flame thrower, it shoots out twice the amount of power as a regular one and you can manipulate its movements as well as-"

"We know," Lyon interrupted, "But would you really aim it at us?"

Natsu paused.

Gray sighed, "You humans don't think do you? My ice magic cannot be melted by a regular flame. Plus, you're in the palace right now. Would you really want to risk setting it on fire?"

Lucy muttered something under her breath, then took the flamethrower out of Natsu's hand and put it back onto his belt.

"I acted rashly, I will apologize," she bowed to Lyon, then glanced at Gray coldly, "But next time we are insulted. Such actions will not be tolerated."

Gray and Lyon smirked, "Understood, PRINCESS" they said in unison.

Lucy decided she hated Lyon too.

Gray then turned to look at her and Natsu, "Soooo… we keep on getting off track. Who's gonna share a room with who now?"

Lucy remained silent, turned to look at the two brothers. She had decided five seconds ago that she hated both of them.

She turned to look at Natsu, who was glared at the vampires.

Finally, she decided on what to do. She took the ribbon she tied her hair in and cut it up into four pieces using a dagger, much to everyone else's surprise.

She then took out a pen and wrote the number "one" on two of them, and then the number "two" on the other two.

She then flipped them all over, so that you couldn't see the number. Then she mixed it up with rapid hand movement, so fast you couldn't even tell which was which anymore, everything was a blur.

Finally, she stopped, they were clustered together in a pile now. Four dark red ribbons were sitting there, flipped so you couldn't see the numbers written on them.

She let out a small breath of air puff out of her lips, and then stood up without betraying any emotion.

She leaned onto her right foot, and then put a hand on her hip, "We will do a lottery. As you guys saw, I wrote a 'one' on two of them, and a 'two' on the other two. We will each choose one. We will sleep in the same room as the other person with the same number as you."

Lyon nodded, "Fair enough."

Gray laughed, "Pretty childish."

Natsu patted Lucy's shoulder, "Hope you don't get stuck with a jerk."

Lucy smirked, "Yeah, you too."

She was actually hoping that she'd get to be with Natsu. She could actually live with the idiot.

Then they all bent down and picked up a ribbon.

Gray looked at her, and then said, "Nice cleavage." Lyon let out a snort after his brother said that.

That really threw her off, she turned red much to her frustration and tried to slap him, which he dodged.

Natsu stared at them, clueless, he was probably wondering what the heck a cleavage was.

She grabbed the last ribbon, then glowered at Gray, "Remind me to get new clothes when I get back home."

"Sure thing blondie."

Then they turned it over.

She got one.

She looked at the rest of them. Natsu turned to her and showed her a two written on his ribbon. Lucy felt her heart sink, now what remained… was what numbers the two vampires had recieved.

Lyon and Gray exchanged their numbers, and smiled, they had different ones, thank god.

Now, all four of them turned their ribbons over.

Natsu had a two.

Lucy had a one.

Gray had a two.

Lyon had a one.

The results were in.

Lucy eyes her new roommate, who raised an eyebrow.

At least it was better than the other option.

X.x.X

* * *

><p><em>Sorry for writing a chapter of almost nothing. I only managed getting the results in, at least its better than nothing! But luckily, <em>_**I managed to write the next chapter!**_

_**Turn the page! I got another chapter for you guys! **__**Reviews! ^.^/**_


	7. Within the Blankets, Behind the Thunder

_Well, sorry for the late update, but hey, I got two chapters updated this time! Enjoy!_

^.^/

* * *

><p>X.x.X<p>

_Gray's P.O.V._

This sucks, he actually hoped to get the blondie. She would be fun to tease.

He watched as the guy called Natsu investigated his room.

"Hey," Gray called, "There isn't anything in here. Just get yourself somewhere to sleep. You guys have the night to rest. Tomorrow, you have to go do your missions stuff."

Natsu looked at Gray, "Do you have a bed for me?"

Gray stared at the red haired freak, "Yes, I do. I just happen to have a second bed in my room because I sleep by myself and with no one else. I have it tucked inside my closet just in case mom gives out a weird order that lets strangers sleep in my room."

Natsu grinned, "Gee, thanks." Then he went to the closet.

Gray watched at Natsu looked around, _are you kidding me_? The guy was an idiot!

Natsu opened it up, then looked, "Hey, there's no bed."

Gray smirked, "First, you don't go into other people's closets. Second, have you ever heard of sarcasm?"

Natsu opened his mouth, then closed it. Reality struck.

"WHY YOU CREEP!" he yelled and ran forward to punch Gray.

Gray easily dodged.

Natsu took out his flamethrower and shot it at Gray, which Gray countered with his ice magic.

The ice really didn't melt.

This one-sided fight went on for a while.

. . . . . . . . . .

_Lyon's P.O.V._

Well things have gotten interesting.

He watched from his bed as Lucy set herself away from him as far as possible, on the other side.

He sweat dropped, "Listen Lucy, I promise I won't molest you like my little sister did…"

Lucy didn't answer, she had forced Lyon to hide in the closet while she changed… he tried to peek but had her boots thrown at him.

She looked pretty cute actually. She was wearing a sleeveless lacey nightgown that went up to her knees, by the way, it was a really pale satiny pink color, it made her look like an innocent girl.

Oh yeah, she was holding a rabbit. Seriously, she was acting so badass this morning, and at night she ends up holding a freaking rabbit. Did she turn into an angel at night or something?

He cleared her throat, "I am sorry that I don't have a spare bed."

Lucy didn't say anything still, looking quite upset.

Lyon gave up, "Okay, that's it. Tell me what you want."

Lucy finally started to talk, "I want you to wear a shirt."

That was it?

SERIOUSLY?

Lyon couldn't help but laugh, that girl was hilarious.

She was now blushing, "What? I just feel self-conscious when you lie around half naked like that."

Lyon licked his lips, he wanted to tease her so bad now. "So that's it? Put on a shirt?"

"YES!"

"Then will you actually sleep next to me naturally like any regular visitor will?"

…

The girl bit her lip, oh this was too fun.

Lyon lunged.

The girl looked like she was about to scream, but she didn't.

The next thing you know, Lyon was on top of her.

"What the hell are you doing?" she shrieked, trying to best to get out.

He laughed, "I couldn't help it. You're so cute. Just give me the answer. If I put my shirt on will you sleep next to me without making me feel awkward?"

He saw her eye twitch, "Did you just call me cute?

Lyon felt like he just committed a fatal mistake, "Uh…"

Then he felt something that vaguely resembled a foot come in contact with his muscular gut. The next thing he knew, his face was smashed into a wall.

The blondie was producing a deadly aura, "Call me cute one more time and I'll skin you alive vampire."

Lyon freaked out, god, this girl was crazy, "Okay okay, sorry. I don't get why humans are so conscious of sleeping with the opposite gender, but I promise I won't do anything. Okay?"

The human girl had a perfect comeback, "You think I would trust you now that you have done that to me?"

Crap.

That was true.

"Uh…" Lyon stammered, he didn't know what to say.

Then, the door flew open.

They both turned around. Hmm?

It was Gray and the red haired idiot. They both looked fine, no bruises or scratches, but their clothes were torn up.

Lyon blinked in surprise. The human girl did the same.

They were both panting as if they had just returned from a fight which they probably did.

Then they pointed accusingly at the other.

"I can't stand this guy. We have to switch rooms."

. . . . . . . . . .

_Lucy's P.O.V._

Well, after a massive turn of events…

She ended up going to Gray's room.

Gray's

Room.

Are you freaking kidding me? Lucy punched the wall to let the fire out of her.

Well, it turns out that Natsu and Gray got along like fire and ice would. They would end up killing each other if they ended up together.

Lucy watched the two of them slam the door open. Their clothes were torn up and they were both panting. What could Lucy do? Natsu was so desperate, and she hated both brothers.

She finally decided to give in and go to Gray's room. Heck, Lyon and Gray were like twins, it couldn't be any more different.

Now…

She was stuck in the same room as Gray, who looked quite smug.

She breathed in.

She breathed out.

Then she raged, "Why do you have to piss off every living soul you meet?"

"It's my specialty dear."

Lucy snorted.

She looked over the room, "I don't suppose you have another bed."

"Nope."

Lucy stared at the cold, wooden floor, which did not look appealing at this time of the night.

Gray started to strip.

Lucy gagged, "What ARE you doing?"

Gray looked at her strangely, then looked down, "DAMN IT!"

He grabbed his boxer shorts and put them on.

Lucy could only stare strangely, who would start stripping unconsciously?

Wait…

"Do you have a stripping habit?" Lucy had to ask.

Gray looked away.

It was Lucy's turn to smirk, "So you DO have a weakness."

Gray managed to smirk back, "How does that help you in any way?"

Lucy was puzzled, where was he getting at?

"You do realize you're spending the night with some guy with a stripping habit?"

That took a few seconds to register.

Lucy immediately back away to the opposite side of the room.

Gray immediately pinned her to the ball, pressing himself against her.

Lucy cursed.

"Don't you want some of THIS?" Gray spoke with mockery.

Lucy furrowed her eyesbrows, god this was déjà vu. Lyon only did this to her only a few minutes ago.

He leaned in.

That's it, Lucy just about had enough. She wasn't entirely helpless. She managed to get one of her arms free, smack him, and then push him off of her.

Lucy was not pleased, she looked at him coldly, "Idiot."

Gray looked at her mischeavously, "Now that you have learned your lesson huntress, would you like to come sleep with me?"

Lucy snarled, "I'd rather sleep on the floor."

Gray sighed in disappointment, "Aww… I would have had fun teasing you… Hey wait, I still can."

Lucy felt horror descending upon her, he knew what he was going to say.

"Blondie, are you holding a RABBIT?"

Lucy froze.

Gray cracked up, "Oh man, OH MAN. This is freaking hilarious. YOU holding a stuffed rabbit? Oh man, why didn't I notice it sooner?"

Lucy turned pink, then threw a lamp at him.

Gray barely managed to catch it.

"Goodnight YOUR HIGHNESS," she snapped, then she slammed her fist into the switch.

The room was dark.

Gray's laughter died off slowly.

Lucy took her blanket out and made herself as comfortable as she could on the cold floor.

Her back was dying.

"Huntress?" Lucy heard Gray's voice behind her.

"What?" she snapped back, not bothering to turn over.

She heard him let out a sigh, "What are you guys doing over here anyways?"

Lucy snorted, and finally turned around the meet Gray's gaze "Didn't Queen Ur already tell you guys? We were sent to protect the neighboring human villages from the vampirexes around here."

Gray seemed to be deep in thought, he was staring at the ceiling. The moonlight reflected off of his black eyes, turning them silver. Lucy's breath was caught in her throat for a brief second. Even if she didn't like to admit it, all vampires were beautiful.

"Do you think of vampires and vampirexes as…" Gray trailed off, not wanting to say the word. But Lucy already knew it.

"Monsters?" Lucy spoke without emotion, and watched him wince, as if struck by her hand.

He was silent for a few moments, then replied softly, "Yeah… something like that I guess."

Lucy groaned, that was what she was afraid of, "Please don't tell me you've overheard some conversations at our academy."

Gray chuckled, but his voice remained somewhat… Lucy didn't know what to describe it, but it was a bit like the sound of a lonely child, "Bulls-eye huntress." He met her gaze now, his eyes were piercing.

Lucy stared at Gray for a few seconds, and then turned her face to the ceiling. She was silent for a few moments, then told that vampire what she thought of his race.

When she finally gave her answer, Lucy had no idea how much this would affect her life… no idea.

. . . . . . . .

_Gray's P.O.V._

He wanted to know so badly, he wanted his hatred toward humans to rest on this girl's shoulders.

He leaned on his elbow, waiting somewhat patiently for her answer.

The huntress pulled her hands out of her blanket and behind her head, as if she were gazing at the stars. When she finally spoke, her voice seemed far away, "How can I think of your race… and ones similar to you as monsters. Even if I am a vampire hunter, how can I truly hate them?"

Gray's eyes widened, from the shock. This girl was saying she didn't hate his race, but all her movements said the opposite.

He watched the teenage girl with a newfound attentiveness as she continued her thoughts.

"Sometimes I really want to think of you guys as monsters, I try to tell myself that it is right that I am killing Ex-vampires, that I am protecting my kind. I am a vampire hunter after all, my team mates would probably give me a two hour lecture if I told them I didn't necessarily think of you guys as monsters."

He watched her let out a small smile, as if amused by a memory. She turned to face him, her brown eyes gleaming with what he could only describe as amusement and warmth.

"Nobody can choose how they are born or what they are born. It's life. You can't do anything about it, how can I dislike anything because of something they couldn't choose. Something they couldn't control? That would be cruel."

Gray didn't know what to expect from this girl anymore, but he felt desperate. He wanted to listen more to what she had to say, he had never heard a human talk like this before.

"It's strange if you think about it. But aren't humans the monsters in this case?" Her eyes became faraway again, as she looked right past his shoulder, right through the window, right at the moon.

Gray blinked, "What are you…"

She interrupted him much to his annoyance, "Humans are always calling vampires monsters, always. But vampires never call humans monsters. Now only a few vampires hunt humans, and your race is more of a minority in comparison to ours. But in each race, there are a few who have chosen the wrong path to walk. You can't say that every human fights for justice either. In fact, I know a few who hunt vampires for no reason."

Gray nodded, "You mean like Phantom?"

Lucy smirked, "Exactly like Phantom, that is one jerk that I can't wait to get my hands on."

Gray couldn't help but laugh at her comment.

"Humans are always accusing vampires of sucking their blood. But that hardly happens now eh? But we always call vampires monsters, how would anyone like to be called a monster? Vampires actually have done much to ensure the safety of us, but have we humans done anything? Nothing. We just kill."

Gray felt his stomach ease a little, this girl had something, a talent or gift. Or maybe it was just her, but her words were truthful to the point of healing.

The huntress turned her eyes so they met his, they were almost like they were challenging him to a match.

"So in this case, aren't humans the real monsters?" what amazed Gray the most, was that she was saying this while smiling.

His mouth was open a little in surprise, his eyes stared at her.

She was smiling at him, as if she was relieved.

Then his mouth cracked into a smile, he started to laugh.

"What?" the huntress spoke in indignation, as if pouting.

"Nothing… its nothing." He spoke between his laughs, "You're so weird, huntress." He held his stomach, laughing out of relief, amusement, and something else.

He heard her grunt, "Good night you baka vampire."

Gray calmed down, his laughter slowly ended, he wiped away a tear from the side of his eyes from laughing so hard.

"Good night to you too blondie."

"Hmph."

. . . . . . . .

Lucy opened her eyelids sleepily, ugh… she had woken up in the middle of the night.

She shook her head and was about to go back to sleep.

BOOM

CLASH

Her eyes shot over, she gasped.

It was the sound of thunder.

It sounded again. This time, the sound was huge.

Lucy huddled into a small ball, shivering.

This was one of Lucy's only weaknesses.

She was scared of thunder.

The thunder got louder and louder, and let out a small cry each time it sounded. It seemed like it was getting louder and louder each time. The flashes of lightening didn't help either.

On days like these, she would creep to Erza or her brothers. They would hug her and wrap their arms around her to comfort her. They made her feel safe.

But she was all alone now.

She was on a cold wooden floor in a dark room without any warmth or trust.

She wanted to cry.

But she didn't. Lucy was strong, but being strong didn't make her invincible.

Then, there was a huge sound again.

That one scared Lucy so much that she sat straight up. She brought her knees to her chest and sat there, frightened and vulnerable.

Then, Gray spoke.

"Hey hunter."

Lucy was still huddled into a ball, she didn't dare move. She would really cry if he was going to tease her again.

"Want to come here with me?"

Lucy opened her eyes, "N-No… I'm fine, just a bad stomach right now."

Then an exploding sound of thunder rang again.

Lucy didn't hesitate, enough was enough. Perhaps she acted out of pure instinct, but she acted.

She turned around and ran to Gray's bed, her blanket falling off her shoulders.

Gray was sitting up, his blankets over his shoulders. His knees were bent upwards so that he was in a sitting position. He wasn't smiling or smirking, he wasn't frowning either.

He was just… serious.

He held his arms out, welcoming her as she leapt into them.

Lucy didn't hesitate when she leapt.

His strong hands finally caught her own lithe body.

She was trembling, her head lay sideways onto his chest.

Finally, she was safe in his arms, huddled into a ball.

Gray had his legs spread out, his arms holding her tightly. He threw the blanket over them so that they were under it. They couldn't see anything else. It muffled the sound of the thunder and the lightening.

It was dark.

Surprisingly, Lucy found Gray to be warm. Vampires were usually cold, very cold. Maybe it was because of the blankets, but whatever it was, Lucy felt safe.

Finally she started to calm down.

She lay silently against Gray's chest, freezing whenever she heard the sound of thunder, although it was muffled by the blankets.

She felt a warm hand stroke her hair, calming her down.

"You're such a liar huntress…" Gray spoke softly, then let out a short-lived laughed, as if amused. "Stomach ache huh? You are scared of thunder aren't you?"

Lucy felt recovered enough to speak, "Well it isn't like you don't have any fears." Her voice came out softly.

Gray laugh quietly, "We all do huntress, it's just that not all of us pretend to not have any."

Lucy didn't reply to that, she just curled up into an even tighter ball.

Another bolt of thunder sounded across the room, Lucy buried her head into her arms immediately.

She started praying for it all to be over again, she didn't want to be in this state anymore.

Then she felt something breathe softly into her hair, well, it must be Gray then.

Lucy felt his arms tighten around her, in return, she held onto one of his arms.

"It's weird seeing you so weak like this," he murmured.

Lucy stared up at him with irritation, "I am not weak, I just need some time to calm-"

BOOM!

Lucy gasped again and pressed herself even more tightly against him. Her mind was racing yet frozen. She was petrified and ready to explode from panic.

Gray stroked her hair softly, "Hush hush." He murmured, "I can help you."

Lucy prayed, anything to make this stop, anything.

Gray let her go temporarily for a split second, she felt vulnerable for that second. She flew into panic as she saw more lightning. Lightning meant thunder.

Then, something went over her ears. She felt Gray's arm wrap around her again.

She looked up at Gray, who was smiling playfully. He had an i-pod in his hand. Lucy felt the ear-muff like things around her ears, those must be headphones. He pressed the play button.

"This way, you don't need to hear the thunder."

Lucy felt a song blaze through her ears. She didn't recognize the lyrics cause there were no lyrics, then she realized she knew the song. She stared at him in amazement, it _Defying Gravity from Wicked, _but it was only a piano version_. (Sorry for the interruption, but I just need to say that I don't own this music!) _

Gray was looking at her, for some reason, she suddenly felt embarrassed, "What?"

"You seem to recognize this music," he replied simply.

Lucy blushed, "Well I do kay? I have it on my i-pod."

Gray stared at her incredulously, "Seriously? That's all you say? I thought you were going to mock me forever because of this."

Lucy brought her knees closer to her, "Well… it's not like a hate instrumental music." She diverted her eyes away but it was impossible to look anywhere else when she was that close to that guy.

Wait.

HOLD ON A FREAKING SECOND, Lucy jerked. Why was she so close to him? Oh wait, it was cause.

Reality settled in, _Its cause I freaked out and did something…_

"Y-You," Lucy stammered, "Your hand, please."

She felt his confused gaze look at her, and then she felt an ever annoying smirk hover above her.

"Ohhhhhh, riggggght. My hand," Lucy nearly jumped when Gray placed his OTHER hand around her.

"S-Stop," Lucy was blushing all over the place now, she felt strangely vulnerable.

"Hmm? You scared huntress?" HE WAS MOCKING HER? Lucy felt him tighten his grip around her.

"Wait! I mean," Lucy froze as she heard a soft boom of thunder. The music wasn't loud enough.

Gray let out a small laugh, "There there huntress, it's time to rest."

Before Lucy even knew what was happening, Gray had laid her and him down on the bed. They were lying on their sides, faces mere centimeters away from each other. But since Lucy was shorter, her eyes didn't quite meet his, rather, her eyes saw the vampire's mouth.

"What are you doing!" Lucy only managed to keep her voice down to a whisper so she wouldn't wake up the entire castle.

Gray yawned, "I was getting tired of cuddling you. I need to go to sleep too."

Lucy looked away, then turned away from Gray so that her back was facing him, "I get it baka. Then please let me go…"

"And once the song ends, would you still be able to bear the thunder? Wanna sleep on the floor again?"

Lucy was silent, she had gotten used to the softness of the bed and if she song really did end…

Ah crap, it just ended.

She heard a few sounds of thunder, it was getting fainter, but it was still there. She froze and summoned all of her pride and sanity so that she wouldn't turn around and press herself into Gray's embrace.

"I guess the song just ended?" Gray spoke a bit sleepily.

"Hai..." Lucy murmured, trembling slightly. No more thunder, no more thunder, she was praying again.

Gray just pulled her even more tightly to him and threw the blankets back over them, "There… now I need to sleep."

Lucy couldn't believe it, but for the first time in her life, she couldn't seem to hear the thunder anymore. Maybe it was because her heart was beating so fast or maybe it was because the blanket was muffling the already soft thunder.

Lucy breathed, only then did she feel how sleepy and exhausted she was.

Then she drifted off into a deep slumber, with Gray's arms warming her. The last thing she remembered was his warm breath breathing into her hair.

. . . . . . .

_Gray's P.O.V._

He hadn't fallen asleep yet, he would only once he knew the huntress was asleep.

When he felt her breathing settle and deepen, he decided that she was asleep.

Then Gray felt something stir within him, oh great, not now.

His thirst was increasing, his thirst for this girl's blood.

He stared at her neck, and leaned to it. He bared his fangs and felt them increase in length.

He struggled for a moment, bite or not bite? Biting her would make him an Ex-vampire.

Then she murmured something in her sleep, "B-Baka…"

That brought him back to reality, his fangs shortened immediately, his thirst disappeared.

He lay there, frozen. Then let out a snort. He couldn't believe it, he almost drank blood from a human.

Gray also realized that this girl just saved his sanity.

He smiled gently, this girl was getting even more interesting each time he met her.

He closed his eyes, and thought, _She is the only human I have met, who has not thought of us as monsters…_

He closed his eyes, _Sweet Dreams…_

X.x.X

* * *

><p><em>Whew, finally finished. Sawy for the late updates! Thanks for reading, sorry if there are many errors in this, I didn't spend much time checking… Comments! ^.^_


	8. Unexpected Things

_Wow, I really don't have much to say I guess. Thanks for all understanding, my mother is slowly but surely recovering. Anyways, sorry for the long wait and here's the long awaited update! I DON'T OWN FAIRY TAIL OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS!_

_(Be warned, I had not edited this .)_

^.^/

X.x.X

* * *

><p><em>Lucy's P.O.V.<em>

Lucy groaned, and shifted her body. She buried her face deeper into the pillow, the sunlight was shining directly into her face. Last night had been exhausting…

Wait a second.

"Good morning huntress! I see that you're enjoying yourself, but please refrain yourself from any indecency! ~

That's when Lucy remembered the events of last night, from the lightning to the ipod. Lucy was up in an instant, before Gray even finished his sentence. She broke away from the blankets and was standing on bed sheets, or more specifically, she was standing over Gray.

Gray was eyeing her with a playful smile. He was wearing a unbuttoned white shirt. Lucy glared at him, and crossed her arms over her chest, "Don't you dare say anything that happened last night. In fact, I would prefer it if we pretended that it didn't happen."

She had expected him to play around and tease her, but what happened instead was surprising. He raised an eyebrow, "Sure, I'll pretend that never happened… but I only need to promise to that right?"

Lucy blinked, he was acting quite obedient, that's strange. She scratched her head, a bit confused.

"Yeah, I guess… you only need to forget about last night-"

Gray interrupted her with a mischievous look, "So I don't need to promise about this morning."

Lucy was puzzled, this morning? Nothing happened this morning… right? She looked at him strangely, what was he planning?

"Sure… I guess…?" Lucy spoke hesitantly, what was there to hide about this morning?

Then, Gray started to smirk. Lucy's heart started to sink, she hated it when he did that. It meant trouble. He tilted his head slightly, "Then I guess it's fine to tell everyone about how you were practically glued to my body this morning."

Lucy's eyes nearly popped out, "What the hell are you…" she trailed off.

The pillow that I buried my face into… Lucy's eyes widened and her hands dropped to her sides.

_Don't tell me… _Lucy shook her head, _no way no way no way…_

That pillow… was that Gray? Oh SHIIIIIIIIIII

Gray's voice interrupted her thoughts, "I guess I have a story to tell everyone-"

Lucy caught off guard, immediately bent over and grabbed him by the collar and lifted it so that his face met hers. She had enough of his arrogance and teasing. She hated it… this usually would not affect her, but why did she hate this so much? Her heart felt so burdened each time.

She spoke harshly toward her gritted teeth, "Don't you DARE say a thing, YOUR highfalutin."

Gray lifted his hand and gently took hold of a strand of her hair and brought it to his lips. Lucy froze, she suddenly couldn't move. It was as if she'd collapse if she even moved a muscle.

Gray stared at her, his dark eyes were playful, like a cat. His voice came out devilish, "If my princess wishes it, then allow this knight to fulfill her desires." Lucy couldn't tell if his tone was sarcastic or flirtatious, she kinda wanted to punch him the face. That voice made her stomach feel weird.

Lucy's mouth almost dropped, what the hell was he talking about? Knight? Psh, yeah right. If he were a knight then she was the Queen of Fiore.

But before she could say anything, the door opened. They both turned their heads over.

It was Lyon.

"Hey! It's time to eat!" he spoke cheerfully until he saw the position the two were in.

Lucy.

Was.

On.

Top.

Of.

Gray.

Lucy and Lyon's faces both froze.

Gray turned to his brother, as if nothing was out of the ordinary, "Oh, coming in a sec."

Lucy mentally slapped herself, _Ah crud, this was going to take a lot of explaining…_

. . . . . . . .

* * *

><p><em>Gray's P.O.V.<em>

Gray silently ate his food, he could tell that blondie was seething. He lifted a glass of a scarlet red liquid and brought it to his lips. It was only a matter of time…

3

2

1

Zing!

He managed to dodge the fork that she threw with not so much as a hair harmed. He glanced in her direction, she was completely pissed. She was gritting her teeth, as if she was upset that the fork didn't shatter his glass of red liquid.

The red haired idiot was glaring at him too, well too bad. He smirked at Natsu, "Trust me kid, the feeling's mutual."

Natsu stood up immediately, eyebrows furrowed, "Just what are you drinking?"

Gray whistled, let's take this a little bit further, "You mad bro?" A vein twitched in Natsu's head, he looked like he was about to chuck something at him. Not that it would actually hit.

Lucy stood up and placed her arm in front of Natsu, probably to stop him from lunging out at Gray. She spoke quite coldly, "All we want to know is whether that liquid you're drinking is actually something we should be concerned over." She slammed her hand down, hard enough to make the plates clatter against the table.

Lyon was the first to respond, his voice was panicky. Gray sighed, and eyed the blondie, she was no fun.

Gray stared at his brother who stood up, and was talking face to face with Lucy.

"It's blood,"—he lifted his head to pat her head, "Got a problem?"

Gray's frown turned to a smirk after Lucy smacked Lyon's hand away. That was just like what she'd do. That girl was always forgetting her place: Lyon was two years her senior and of royalty.

The huntress stared icily at Lyon, "Whose blood is that?"

He couldn't stay silent any longer, Gray shot his fork at the huntress… who caught it right with her fingers without turning her head.

Natsu immediately turned towards him, voice flaring, "What the hell was that for you bastard?!"

Gray shrugged, as if it weren't a big deal, "I knew that she'd catch it."

He turned toward Lucy, and lifted up his wine glass, "This isn't blood, but a dissolved blood tablet."(VAMPIRE KNIGHT ANYONE? :D and just in case, I don't own Vampire Knight .)

Lucy tilted her head to one side, "What…? Blood tablet?" Gray sighed, guess the humans were a bit behind. He glanced at Lyon, who caught his eye, Gray really didn't want to explain it. It was a waste of breath.

Lyon caught the message and explained it to the humans, "So basically, ever since it's been made clear that vampires weren't allowed to drink human blood, mom—I mean Queen Ul—invented this tablet to satisfy our… er… hunger."

Natsu stared at the red liquid, "So it isn't real blood? Just a dissolved tablet?"

Lyon snapped his fingers, "Correct."

Gray watched Lucy lift the glass and inspect it, "So are these so-called "blood tablets" distributed among all the citizens?"

Lyon nodded, gently taking the glass away from Lucy to take a sip, "If you haven't noticed, our kingdom isn't exactly big." Gray clacked his tongue in agreement.

With the two humans calmer, the two vampire brothers exchanged a look of victory and relief. Finally…

That's when Lyon suddenly had a light bulb moment, he turned towards the vampire huntress and asked a question, "By the way, what exactly happened this morning—"

Gray felt his lips form a crooked smile as the huntress' eyes widened. But what happened next took him by surprise.

Lucy, in a moment of panic, JUMPED over the table and tackled Lyon to the ground. Her hands covered his brother's mouth.

Gray lifted an eyebrow, talk about an overreaction. The other human's eyes nearly budged out, "L-L-Lucy…!"

Then, they heard distant footsteps. In a few seconds, Queen Ul walked into the room. She had a satisfied look on her face and glass of wine in her hand.

The huntress looked away from Lyon and turned her attention to his mom. It was as if she had completely forgotten the situation.

Gray almost laughed out loud when he saw the look on his mother's face.

Queen Ul's mouth dropped. Natsu was waving his hands wildly from the other side of the table, trying to communicate with Lucy who had forgotten the situation. Lucy looked at Natsu weirdly for a second, then after a moment of silence, FINALLY remembered.

Gray had to summon every drop of his willpower not to start laughing out loud, tears were forming in his eyes from the concentration. The huntress stiffly turned her head to Lyon, as if she were a robot. She took her hands off Lyon's mouth immediately, and her head snapped back towards his mother.

"Q-Queen Ul! This… This is a misunderstanding! Imean—"

His mom held up a hand, her face dead serious, "It's okay, even if this is taboo, I will accept it."

…

Gray blinked twice.

…

What?

…

Everyone else was just as confused as he was, what the heck was Queen Ul talking about?

Lucy scrambled off of Lyon, who sat up and was glaring ever so slightly at the girl.

She straightened her vest, and asked Queen Ul the question going through all their minds, "Umm… may I ask what you mean, my queen?"

Queen Ul walked towards the dining table and set her glass down. Then, suddenly pointed towards Lucy and Lyon, who flinched. Her sharp gaze pierced through them, Gray suddenly felt his heart sink. He didn't like where this was going.

"YOU," Queen Ul pointed at Lucy.

Lucy stiffened and straightened her position, "Y-Yes ma'am?"

Queen Ul then turned towards Lyon, "YOU."

Lyon just flinched, Gray didn't blame him. That old hag was scarier than… than slender man. (I DON'T OWN SLENDER MAN… and am glad I don't)

Gray watched his mom smirk, something that usually doesn't bring pleasant outcomes, "I ACCEPT YOUR RELATIONSHIP."

…

He nearly fell to the ground, wait a second. The old hag thought that THOSE TWO were in a relationship?!

Those two were completely shocked, but Queen Ul didn't stop there.

"I think love between two people should have no limit," Queen Ul flipped her hair back, suddenly all sparkly, "Although you two are technically of different species, its fine as you have the same sexual organs. So there won't be any difference when you're in the middle of intercourse. Plus, I'll convince those guild members to accept you so…"

Gray stared at his mom, did she really just say what he thought she just said?

Well apparently so.

Lyon looked like he was ready to pass out, he held his hands up, "Wait a second mom… Calm down for a second, it's really not like that…"

Lucy immediately started shaking her head, "Your majesty, I erm, believe we have a SERIOUS misunderstanding."

Gray couldn't hold it in anymore, and doubled over, laughing. Everyone turned toward him, but like he cared.

"Oh my gosh (laugh) That was (laugh) Did you see (laugh) (laugh) (laugh) Oh god (laugh) I think (laugh) (laugh) (rofl)" Gray couldn't say anything anymore, he was already on the floor.

Queen Ul finally stopped talking, she turned toward the two awkward teenagers.

"You guys weren't in any relationship?"

"YES!"

"Then… why was Lucy-chan on top of Lyon?"

"Because I was trying to stop him from asking something stupid!" Lucy was blushing every shade of red there could have possibly existed.

Lyon sighed and scratched his head, "Geez mom… don't jump to conclusions like that."

"…"

"Sorry kids… I get excited at times."

Gray finally stopped laughing, "You don't say, mom?"

- HALF AN HOUR LATER-

Gray had a crooked smile on.

Lucy had an emotionless but slightly red face.

Lyon was rubbing his forehead.

Natsu's mouth was still hung open.

Queen Ul cleared her throat, still slightly embarrassed, "Children, today you're going to protect the villages. This is important because it represents the alliance between vampires and humans. I'll be splitting you up in teams-"

Gray interrupted his mom, "Great then, I'll be paired up with Lyon."

Queen Ul grabbed the nearest plate and chucked it at her son's head, which happened to hit. Gray couldn't even react.

"What the…?!" Natsu managed to say before the plate hit Gray. Lucy jumped back, half in surprise, half because of her natural instincts.

"Ow… tch… what the hell was that for you old hag?!" Gray rubbed his forehead, wincing. He glared accusingly at his mom.

Queen Ul held up two fingers, with a stern look.

"First of all, I want to split you up into two teams. Each team would consist of one from the Fullbuster family, the other from Fairy Tail guild. That way, there's a power balance."

He saw the other people nodding, and sighed. Fine…

"Second, this is also a great opportunity for you all to get along to strengthen the ties between humans and vampires. So when you meet the villagers, make sure to AT LEAST pretend to get along."

Now wait a second…

Queen Ul eyed the children, "So here are the teams I planned out. Gray and Lucy will go to the villages of Wyvern and Romanian. Natsu and Lyon will go to the villages of Fei and Clarice."

Lucy looked at Gray, with sudden realization.

"M-My queen… this couldn't possibly work… I mean, Gray and I—"

Queen Ul interrupted Lucy, "There's no way you can pair with Natsu. And plus, if Gray were to pair with Natsu, could they possibly put up a show of good behavior after what happened last night?"

Gray whistled, the old hag had a point.

Queen Ul continued, "And would you willingly pair up with my eldest son after what just happened?"

Touché

Lucy sighed, her arms shaking. Gray snickered, which caused the girl to glare at him. He returned her glare with a mocking look. Oh joy, they always seem to be paired together. He put his feet on the table and leaned back, causing his mom to shoot him a look of disapproval.

Natsu piped up, he sounded quite disappointed, "So… what do we do at these villages? I mean, I know we have to protect them from vampirexes, but is that all we're going to do? Patrol?"

Gray watched his mom's lips twist into a smirk, that couldn't be good.

"Of course," Queen Ul stared directly at Natsu, who seemed unusually nervous, "That wouldn't be any fun would it?"

Queen Ul twirled a strand of her dark violet colored hair and closed her eyes. Gray knew this was her tactic of making what she was going to say more dramatic. He patiently waited for the moment of silence to pass.

Lyon wasn't as willing to wait, he tapped his foot impatiently, "So?"

The queen paused for a few more seconds. She lifted her intertwined hands to her mouth, then opened one eye.

"Those villages are no ordinary villages… there's been some suspicious activity going on there…" Queen Ul paused and now had both eyes staring directly at the children in front of her.

Gray looked at this scene suspiciously, what was his mother aiming at? Her exchanged looks with Lyon, who was as equally wary and guarded, if not more.

Lucy broke the silence that seemed to be settling like rocks on their shoulders, "What does your majesty mean by 'suspicious'?"

The queen's face darkened, she set her hands down on the table.

"What I am about to tell you is confidential information, no one but Master Makarov and I know this," Queen Ul spoke with hesitance, which was quite unusual her.

Even Gray was not prepared for what his mother would say next.

His mother closed her eyes, looking extremely stressed, "Every team we have sent to investigate the area… each one, no matter the reason they were sent… have failed in the investigation."

He unconsciously clenched his fists together, why the hell was he never told of anything this important? But that did explain a lot, like why they had to replace the head of armed forces… Does that mean that even their best had failed?

He glanced around the table, the blondie messing with her hands. For once, he didn't have the strength to tease her.

"But that's not the end of it. They didn't just fail, they never returned."

The blondie jerked to attention, "By never returned… you mean…?"

Queen Ul nodded solemnly, "That's right. They never returned. No one has ever seen them again. The villagers who we called to the palace don't remember anything, all traces of their existence have been erased."

"Their bodies, no, not even their clothes remained."

. . . . . . . . .

* * *

><p><em>Lucy's P.O.V.<em>

She still felt the chills of the message that Queen Ul has told them. Never returned? That's just beyond scary. Suddenly, she felt a tap on her shoulder, she nearly jumped.

It was just Gray.

Lucy sighed, exhausted, "What do you want?"

He held up a few drawstring bags that looked pretty sturdy. Lucy took one and felt it, so it was made of leather…

She looked up at Gray who shrugged, "We can't pack too much stuff, plus the villagers will probably give us something to eat. I just brought some essentials." Gray opened his sack, "Look, just some water and tablets... change of clothes too"

Lucy looked at him warily, and opened her bag. True enough, there wasn't much. Just some water and bandages in hers, plus some clothes. Then she noticed her rabbit stuffed in there. She quickly hid it underneath everything else.

She eyed him with annoyance, "Did you go through my stuff?" She clutched her bag tighter, that idiot…

The black-haired prince just smiled, "Don't worry, I brought some of your panties too." Lucy felt her temperature rising, he really did go through her things!

She lifted her leg, preparing to launch a kick at his annoying face. As predicted, he caught it before it landed. Lucy let out a "tsk", and dropped her leg. She crossed her arms, and glared at him, "Next time you go through my things, I'll—"

"By the way, that rabbit…" Gray interrupted her mid sentence. But that caught Lucy off guard. She narrowed her eyes, "What about it?"

He scratched his head for a second, "… Nevermind."

She looked at him with a deathly gaze, "Finish your sentence."

The vampire just sighed, "Can't you keep quiet? You're getting annoying." He turned away from her and started walking in the direction of the castle doors.

Lucy flipped her hair back and took a deep breath, then followed in suit. She momentarily forgot about her composure while in the castle, she needed to appear calm and impassive in the eyes of everyone.

She smacked Gray in the head.

… Or not.

Lucy couldn't help herself, that guy was seriously getting on her nerves.

"OW!" Gray screeched, then turned toward the huntress, "What the hell was that for?"

"Shut up, we got a mission," she replied cooly. With a feeling of self-satisfaction lingering, she opened the main doors.

She heard that his footsteps catch up to her, a chuckle came out of his lips, "Your personality pisses me off."

"Right back at you," she snapped. Lucy turned her face forwards, only to face the queen.

Lucy gasped, "Queen Ul! I didn't see you!"

Queen Ul waved her hand dismissively, "No need to be so stiff Lucy-chan." She placed a hand on her hip and jabbed her thumb behind her, "I've got an extra member for you guys."

Lucy looked behind the queen's shoulder, a puzzled look was etched on to her face, extra member? Since when?

She heard Gray give a small groan, "Seriously mom?"

Lucy narrowed her eyes, the sunlight was blocking her vision, what was so bad about this member?

Queen Ul flicked her son's nose, "Don't talk like that, you know she's powerful."

"Yeah, but also a royal pain in the a—"

"DON'T TALK LIKE THAT!"

Lucy finally saw the new team member. She had wavy blue hair and a beautiful blue outfit. She also had an unusual thick bottom set of eyelashes.

Wait a second… she looked so familiar. Lucy could have sworn she had seen her somewhere.

"Where…" then Lucy interrupted her own thoughts, her eyes widened.

Oh!

On that day when that Ex-vampire attacked, there was another vampire besides Gray. She was the one with the body of water!

Queen Ul smirked, "Lucy, meet Juvia, one of our strongest warriors." Gray smacked his forehead.

Lucy could only stare dumbly, "Ah… no… um…"

"Juvia" bowed, her face void of all emotion, "We meet once again… Scarlett-san."

X.x.X

* * *

><p><em>Ah… finally done… =.= A bit tired. But it was fun to write as I reached the end. Don't worry though, I got another special update coming this Christmas!<em>


	9. Huntress X Vampire SPECIAL (Edited)

_SUPER LATE SPECIAL CHAPTER! FORGIVE ME YOU GUYS . TOOK MUCH LONGER THAN ANTICIPATED D: I guess it's now a late New Year's special instead of a Christmas special… xD Sorry guys for not updating as often, you see, I have a gazillion classes and camps I need to take as well as this job for tutoring a kid. I don't have much time. But here's a special chapter! It's a flash from the past. I don't own Fairy Tail!_

_**(Before I start this chapter, I'd like to inform you guys that this isn't really part of the plot. It's a flashback, a moment from Lucy and Gray's past that they don't remember… yet. But nonetheless, I am still using the main characters! Enjoy!)**_

^.^/

X.x.X

_. . . . . . . .15 years ago. . . . . . . ._

_Lucy's P.O.V._

Oof.

That kind of hurt…

The two and half year old girl shakily got onto her toddler legs. She sighed and dusted off her legs.

She needed to escape… she needed to.

Last night, something bad happened… something really bad. She didn't know what, but she knew that she needed to run. She remembered someone telling her to run far away. Far, far away.

She took an extra step, then crumbled to the ground. No use, she was so tired. She was so so tired. She had been running since the sky was dark, it was now bright and sunny.

Although she knew that she had to run, Lucy was exhausted. She closed her eyes and laid down next to the grass, "Only… only for a little bit…" she murmured to herself.

She let her eyes close. But not for long. A rumbling sound started to come closer. Her ears perked up, hmm?

Her eyes flashed open out of terror. Those were the sound of galloping horse! And a sound of a carriage from the sound of it.

Lucy immediately jumped to her feet and started to run.

She had to run, but she could hear the sounds coming closer and closer. But she couldn't go any faster, her legs were strained and they burned.

Then, she tripped. Whether she tripped over her own two legs or if it was a root, she never knew.

She felt herself launch into the air for a few moments, then she crashed into the ground.

Lucy couldn't move even if she wanted to now. Her vision blurred, enough was enough. She closed her eyes, she was so tired.

So so tired.

. . . . . . . . . .

Gray's P.O.V.

"Man, are we there yet Gerald?" a rather impatient and arrogant sounding three and half year old Gray was sitting in a carriage of the royal family.

He had crossed his legs and his arms, looking quite cross.

"P-Please be a bit more patient Gray-sama… Just a couple more minutes," Gerald squeezed his handkerchief nervously. He was just a year older than his young master, but as mature as an adult minus the fact that he had weak nerves.

Gray sighed, this was just stupid. WHY did that old hag (aka as his mom) make him attend every little event that happens to pop into her dense mind? Hell, he has already been to five this week, what does she want to do? Kill him? He was only four damn it!

"Gray sama! That's r-really hurts…."

Gray snapped, seriously? How fragile was the idiot-!

Oh.

He paused, and stared at his hand. For some reason, he was squeezing Gerald's hand pretty hard… the bad memory of his mom must of triggered some violent reaction…

Sighing, he let go, "Oops, my bad…" Jesus, he really couldn't take this guy's weak side. Was he really a man?

Gray could only watch as Gerald massaged his bruised hand. Okay, so maybe it did hurt a little…

He lifted his head and called out to the driver, they should be close to that vampire hunter school by now, Fairy Tail or something. It irritates him to even think about that academy. Why was it legal to hunt them but not for them to hunt humans? Why did his mother have to sign such an insulting treaty that only ensures the safety of humans, but not their own kind?

He hated those humans, the entire lot of them.

Gray clucked his tongue, calming himself down. Those things didn't deserve any thoughts from him. "Hey driver! We there yet?" Gosh, he just wanted to get this party over with.

The response was quite boring, just another freaked out driver trying to please him. Gray really wanted to kick him off the carriage, that's how he got rid of the last driver.

Gray waved his hand, never mind, these people were hopeless. Took a freaking hour to get a yes or no answer out of them, "Whatever… just hurry up!"

"Yes Gray-sama…"

Gray turned to Gerald and kicked him hard… just cause he felt like it. HE was dying of irritation.

Gerald started sobbing again, "So mean… what did I do to deserve this…?"

Gray let him ramble on, not bothering to appear concerned. He tilted his head towards the window, were they there yet?

Eh?

"Stop the carriage!" he shouted. And on cue, the driver did so immediately.

Gerald stopped, he turned to his young master, "What is it Prince Gray?"

The black haired prince ignored the questioning voices around him. He pulled his dark blue cape over his shoulders and leapt out of the window.

A human girl was a few feet away from the carriage; they might have run over her if he hadn't looked out. What was the crappy driver doing anyways, almost running over someone?

He cursed, what the hell was a human doing in a forest like this? Didn't they know that this wasn't a place they should gather?

He slowed his running to a stop. He had arrived in the forest clearing. Gray stared at the girl that laid before him, asleep. She seemed about his age, maybe a bit tinier in size. What was she doing out here and sleeping of all things?

He poked her with a stick he found on the ground, untrusting of it, "Yo, you okay?"

He received no response.

Irritated he started jabbing her instead of just merely poking her, how dare a mere human if IGNORE him?!

"Unn…?" the little girl stirred. Finally, he got a response. Gray watched her with mere amusement, she was just like a baby.

Then his face darkened, her condition was very poor. She looked very weak.

Her eyes opened slightly, her voice trembled as she spoke, "Are you… are you my prince?"

Hmm? She's pretty good at guessing, he WAS a prince. But what did she mean by HER prince?

Gray smiled awkwardly, looking away, "I guess so…" He technically was a prince so he should look like one right? Then again…

He looked at his outfit. His mother made him wear all that princely clothes reserved for parties today. Damn the old hag…

He stood up, and looked at the worried girl, "So, where do you live?"

The girl opened her mouth to reply.

"I need to… I need to run… far far away," her voice came in short breaths. It was then Gray saw how scared she looked.

Before he even knew what he was doing, he stuck his hand out.

"Come with me, I know somewhere safe."

. . . . . . . .

_Lucy's P.O.V._

Lucy looked around nervously, she was in a carriage like those in the fairy tales they read to her. The walls were covered in a red cloth that felt really soft. The seat was black though… purple would have been better.

She flinched as the butler named Gerald cleaned her scratches. He was very gentle, but it stung.

Gerald sighed, "How did this little miss scratch herself up like this?"

The other boy, the one who looked like a prince, spoke sharply, "Why the heck are you asking me?"

Lucy shifted uncomfortably, "Um… excuse me…"

The two boys turned towards her, she immediately put on a poker face. It was a habit of hers, she couldn't help it.

"Who are you?"

Gerald smiled gently, "Excuse our horrible manners miss. I'm Gerald, a butler of the Fullbuster family and— OW!"

Lucy cringed as the black haired prince kicked his butler in the knee.

"Hey brat, who told you to do the introductions?" he spoke with a tone of cockiness that even the almost-three-year-old Lucy could understand. She looked at the crying butler for a moment, then turned toward the cocky prince and bopped him on the head.

That took him by surprise, he sat there with his mouth open at the young girl with the poker face.

"W… What the heck are you—"

"Gerald is obviously older than you," interrupted Lucy, "You should respect your elders."

The rude prince blinked a few times, staring at the toddler girl. Lucy held her indifferent gaze, that's what daddy always taught her.

And so, the staring contest began.

. . . . . . . .

_Gray's P.O.V._

Who was this human girl to have such an attitude against HIM, the second prince of the Fullbuster family?

Gray stared into her large, brown eyes. Somehow, this turned into a staring contest. Actually, he couldn't believe he was doing something like this with a human girl… of all people!

For the first time, he took a good look at the girl's appearance. She looked cleaner and more refined now that Gerald had cleaned her up. It may have been her blonde hair, but something about her seemed high class.

Then, she blinked.

"Tsk…" the girl muttered, then turned to the opposite direction, seemingly depressed. She tucked her legs close to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She leaned close to Gerald, who awkwardly pat her shoulder.

Gray couldn't help but laugh, this kid, what's with her personality? Most kids are always so annoyingly bubbly to him, but this girl was so… interesting. With the high class aura around her and indifferent attitude, oh lord, this was hilarious.

He watched her stiffen, "Are you done laughing?" she muttered grudgingly.

Gray tapped her shoulder, he was just smirking now. He wouldn't mind keeping her actually.

She turned around, or more like rolled around to face him. Her arms were still wrapped around her legs. But most hilarious of all, the expression on her face was priceless. Gray had to bit the inside on his cheek to keep from laughing. She looked like she had just lost her favorite toy.

Gray patted her head, it was kind of… cute.

She stayed still for a moment, Gray actually thought she was an obedient girl for a while. Until she slapped his hand away.

Gray rubbed his reddened hand, oh well. If she acted obedient, it would have been no fun, "Tch… how uncute."

The little blondie glared back, "Don't touch my head like that."

He smirked, then reached out to pat her head again. Geez, hasn't this kid ever heard of reverse psychology? Well before he even came close to her head, the kid slapped his hand away again.

The toddler looked at him coolly, "I said, don't touch me."

Gray paused, then looked her over, "Say, you don't look like you'd be any older than three. How could you speak so fluently?"

The little blondie glanced at him for a second, "And you don't look like you could be any older than four. How can you speak so fluently?"

Gray grinned sneakily, "That's cause…"—he leaned closer to her, as if preparing to tell her a secrete—"I'm a _vampire_." Vampires had a bigger memory spam than humans and were more capable at learning things and taking in knowledge.

He watched her eyebrow twitch ever so slightly, his grin grew bigger, so even she could get shocked. Gray watched her take a few deep breaths, as if to calm herself. The girl looked away for a few moments, probably to regain her composure, then she turned her head sharply. There was a certain glint of determination in her eyes, not often found in human children of her age.

She let out a small "hmph" then crossed her arms, "Fine, since you told me, I'll tell you." The girl pointed at herself, "My daddy taught me to speak like this. He told me its proper for a lady to speak like this."

Gray stared at the little girl, her dad had to be of some sort of status for him to be that harsh on a kid this small. Just who was she anyways?

Oh, that's right, he didn't have her name yet, and neither did she have his.

Gray titled his head to one side, "By the way, what's your—"

Gray almost fell off his seat before he could finish talking. He felt a vein twitch, the driver better know who was getting fired after today.

A voice came from outside the carriage, "Your highness, we have arrived at the villa. We will continue our trip tomorrow."

Gray sighed impatiently, "Fine, fine! Come on Gerald! Let's go." He jumped off his seat and prepared to open the carriage door.

"Wait, Gray-sama!" Gerald's voice sounded panicky as usual.

Why did he have to stuck with such an incompetent servant, "What is it?" he snapped.

"What about this little miss over here?"

Oh right. Gray almost forgot about her situation, he turned around and shrugged, "Bring her with us."

"B-B-But, Gray-sama! The royal villa shouldn't be—"

"DANG IT, GERALD! DIDN'T YOU HEAR WHAT I SAID?!"

"Y-Yes, your majesty!"

He jumped off the carriage and watched Gerald help the human girl off the carriage. Not that she needed any, she jumped off… only to fall down. She quickly got up, her face red. Gerald quickly dusted off her clothes and all that.

Gray let out a small laugh, honestly, that girl was so fascinating.

Behind Gray, came the sound of approaching footsteps. Gray turned around, and smiled in relief. It was the old Granny who looked after the villa. She was especially kind to Gray, and he really enjoyed her company for one.

She bowed with a warm, smiling face, "Gray-sama, you've arrived safely."

He nodded, "Hello obaa-san."

She let out a small chuckle, which confused him.

"Why the laugh, obaa-san?" Gray asked with mere curiosity.

She smiled and looked behind Gray. He turned around and saw the human girl walking towards them with the blank look on her face.

Gray turned back to the Granny, "I still don't get it."

Granny bent down and murmured something in his ear. He couldn't help but blush a little after what he heard she said.

"Forgive my imprudence, but this is the first time I have seen you laugh like that… and I think it's because of that human girl."

. . . . . . . .

_Lucy's P.O.V._

Lucy let out a big yawn, she never felt so tired in her life. She was certain that it was way past her bed time.

She sighed, she really should have taken her nightgown with her when she ran away…

"You tired?"

Lucy looked up, her eyes barely open. It was that rude prince again, "Do I look awake?"

"Nope, but since we have already washed up, how about hitting the sack?" suggested the prince.

Lucy nodded, yawning again, "That sounds nice…"

"Granny!" she heard the prince shout.

"Yes, young master?"

"We're ready for bed!"

"Right this way young master."

-5 Minutes Later-

Lucy was led to a huge bedroom by the nice Granny after Gray was put into his bedroom. She climbed blindly into it and quickly pulled the covers over her.

"Good night madame."

"Good… night…" Lucy murmured back.

Click.

The door closed.

Lucy felt herself drift off to sleep, finally… some sleep.

BOOM.

Hurrrr? Did something fall? If she wasn't mistaken, that sounded a lot like—

BOOM. CRASH.

"Meep!" Lucy let out a small squeak of surprise and sat up straight from her blankets. She felt herself shivering from head to toe. A bizarre flash of memories escaped from her conscious and flew through her mind.

A bloodied hand.

Red lipstick.

A noose.

And sounds of thunder.

Before Lucy knew what she was doing, she had already flown off her bed and was tumbling desperately down the dark hallways of the villa. Her body started to break into a cold sweat as the flashes of lightning were followed by the sound of booming thunder. Her mind flew into a craze as the haunted images replayed themselves in her head. Much to her horror, they were becoming more intricate and clear. Almost like memories that had escaped from a locked treasure chest, never meant to be opened.

Lucy flew through the hallways, her mind racing. All the shadows and dark sculptures caused her eyes to play tricks on her. For a moment, she thought she saw a shadow moving. Then, she froze. Her eyes started to water, she was scared. She was really, really scared.

_Mommy… someone... anyone, save me!_ She thought desperately. She huddled herself next to a board and sat there, her eyes shut tightly.

"Hey, human brat!" a voice broke through her thoughts. She slowly looked up.

It was the black haired prince. Lucy's mind settled a bit and her heart relaxed a bit, she wasn't alone. Then, Lucy realized that she had somehow ran into his room. He was leaning on one side, his eyes boring into her.

She turned away, quiet, she didn't really want a vampire to comfort her.

"Yo, brat!" he called out to her once again. Lucy clenched her fists together, suddenly irritated. Yet, she was still very, very afraid.

"You're still only a kid, how can you use such rough words?" she muttered, her body tensed up as she saw another bolt of lightning. Thunder always followed those flashes.

There was a small pause, then he said calmly, "Then what about you?"

She spun around, her face meeting the vampire's. And as if on cue, the explosive sound of thunder sounded through the castle. Lucy opened her mouth to bite down onto her lip, so she wouldn't scream out loud.

What a foolish mistake she almost made.

. . . . . . . .

_Gray's P.O.V._

He leapt into action as soon as he saw the human's teeth on her lips. What was the idiot doing?! She was in the same room as a bloodthirsty being, even if she was a kid, surely she'd know blood would trigger his own dangerous instincts.

Gray reached out and placed his finger onto her lip before she could bite down.

Ah crud, that hurt. Gray slightly winced as the little girl's teeth bit down onto his finger. Dang, how much strength did she have? He waited for her to come to her senses, this human owed him.

She slowly opened her eyes and gasped. She released her teeth from his hand and backed away. Gray looked at her, observing her every movement. The blondie seemed to be in shock.

"Ah… I… I… Um…" she stammered, as if she couldn't get a hold of herself. Gray noticed her small trembling hands, was she really that frightened of thunder? He looked at his bleeding finger, then licked it. It wasn't that he liked drinking his own blood or anything, it's just that licking the wounds helped them heal faster. Gray looked at his finger again, good, it was perfectly healed. No traces of Lucy's bite marks were left.

He turned his attention toward the human girl, who was staring at him with empty eyes. He didn't like that look at all, she seemed so defeated… unlike before when she had all that spunk.

Then, another thundering boom appeared. Once again, Gray saw the fear and panic in that girl's eyes. Normally, he wouldn't give a crap. He had seen Gerald's pitiful reaction during a thunderstorm, but this girl's fear… His gaze hardened, this girl was truly scared, it was as if she was being tortured.

_I'm never going to do this for ANYBODY ever again, _he thought to himself, then sat up.

"Hey kid," Gray surprised himself with how serious he sounded, "Want to come here with me?"

The girl was shivering, she said weakly, "N-No… I'm fine, just a bad stomach right now."

Then an exploding sound of thunder rang again.

Gray held his arms out, welcoming the human girl into his embrace. Perhaps she acted out of pure instinct, but nonetheless, she searched for safety.

The blankets fell over his shoulders and acted as a curtain to hide the girl. For whatever reason, Gray started to stroke her hair. He couldn't believe what he was doing for this human… but it wasn't like he hated it.

"Liar…" Gray spoke softly, "Stomach ache huh? You are scared of thunder aren't you?"

She remained silent, so Gray laugh quietly, funny seeing her without a sharp comeback. The human didn't reply to that either, she just curled up into an even tighter ball.

Another bolt of thunder sounded across the room, she buried her head into her arms immediately. Gray looked around, this couldn't go on forever. His eyes scanned the room for something like ear plugs, then saw his headphones and music player laying on the side of his bed. He grabbed them and put the headphones onto the human's head.

She looked up, as if surprised by the object he placed over her ears, she lifted her hand to touch them.

He pressed the play button from his music player and adjusted the volume so that it would be just loud enough to block the thunder.

The human girl seemed to have finally calmed down, so they laid down. Gray yawned, and watched over the human girl and put his music player on shuffle mode.

"What's that song?" she asked quietly. Gray scratched his head, what was it called again?

"Oh yeah, it's _My Heart Will Go on_(I DON'T OWN THE SONG OR THE MOVIE), from that one movie..." Gray muttered, a bit embarrassed.

"Really…" she girl murmured, she stroked the headphones, "I think I'll find it when I go… go…"

She paused, unable to respond. Gray shook his head, he didn't pry…

_Dang, I'm only a kid and I'm starting to act like an old geezer, _he thought to himself, unamused.

So it continued that way for the night, he held the human girl in his arms for the night and finally, she fell asleep.

Well, you couldn't expect much out of him either, he was still a kid too. So naturally, his eyelids closed.

_Strange, _he thought to himself, his mind shutting down.

_Why in the world am I doing this much for a human… I don't even know her name._

And then, he fell asleep, his arms around the girl, whose name he didn't know.

. . . . . . . .

_Lucy's P.O.V._

Lucy fingered the black seat she sat on, hmm…

She let her gaze wander to the vampire boy who sat next to her, his face turned completely away from hers. Somehow, he didn't seem as annoying as before.

_Last night, he helped me…_ she wouldn't help but gaze at him in wonder, _I don't even know his name…_

But for some reason, she couldn't ask him for his name. Maybe she was just didn't want to get too attached to him, after all, she was going to be sent somewhere by him. Lucy suddenly remembered something else she needed to ask.

She pulled his cape, "Onii-chan…" she called out, having nothing else to call. He helped her out a lot so something like onii-chan seemed okay…

The boy spun around, his mouth wide open, "What did you just call me?" His eyes were wider than usual, as if he were surprised.

Lucy tilted her head to the side, did he not hear her?

"Onii-chan… That's what I called you," Lucy stated simply, "But _onii-chan, _where are you taking me?"

The vampire boy continued to stare at her with bewildered eyes, he didn't respond to her question as if he didn't hear her. Lucy sighed, this onii-chan was stupid.

He finally snapped out of it, "Uh… I mean, we're going to a guild… for a party."

"Oh," Lucy thought for a second, "What's a guild?"

"Uh…" he thought for a second, "I actually don't know, but it's some place called 'Fairy Tail'—"

"You mean like a princess fairy tale?"

"No, I mean Fairy TAIL, like the tail of a cat. That kind of tail. Anyways, it's a guild that teaches humans how to protect themselves against… me," Onii-chan struggled to finish his sentence.

Lucy let out a huff, indicating that she understood. Lucy stared outside the window and watched the passing trees, she was deep in a thought. For some reason, she wanted to stay with the prince, she didn't really want to leave these people. Is it really bad for them to be together?

A growing sound of an argument interrupted Lucy of her thoughts. She snuck a peek at the source of the sound, it was the onii-chan. He was preoccupied with his butler who seemed to be crying again.

"Geez, didn't I tell you to stop bothering me?"

"But Master Gray! You have to follow the—"

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE RULES!"

"…"

She sighed and turned around, curling up into a tight ball again. Maybe living each day like this wouldn't be too bad. Lucy closed her eyes, slowly drifting off.

_Mommy… _

She jolted from her seat, now in an upright position. Pictures flooded into her head again, she hated this. Her head hurt.

_A bloodied hand fell, clutching something tightly._

_Red lipstick was being applied onto a lady's lips._

_A noose was placed around someone's neck._

_And sounds of thunder echoed as the shadows of people moved silently._

Then, it replayed itself countless times, until they gradually faded. Lucy sat there, a bit scared. Those were like the scenes from last night, just more clear. She took a deep breath, just calm down. No need to worry… No need to worry…

But she was barely three years old, and calming down wasn't her expertise. Tears started to fall from her eyes, she was scared, really really scared.

That's when the worse thing happened, the vampire onii-chan saw her crying. He seemed to be taken aback by her tears. The butler, Gerald, started getting flustered.

Gerald immediately panicked, "M-My lady! What… What—"

Onii-chan interrupted Gerald, his voice somewhat serious, "Hey kid, you okay?"

Lucy turned her head away from them, "I just thought of something sad."

"What is it?"

"… Nothing."

Although her face was turned away, Lucy could feel onii-chan's eyes staring at the back of her head. She fidgeted uncomfortably.

"I wanna go to mommy," she murmured just softly enough for onii-chan to hear.

He didn't respond, the carriage was filled with an uncomfortable silence. The only noise was Lucy's sniffling nose.

Suddenly, Gray got up and barked at the driver, "Hey, do you know any places where kids stay?"

The driver seemed slightly shocked, "P-P-Pardon me, young master?" What was onii-chan doing now?

Lucy looked at the back of the boy, what was he going to do?

Onii-chan stamped his foot impatiently, "I asked if you knew a place where kids without anyone to stay with stay."

"Are you talking about an orphanage, my lord?"

"Yeah yeah, sure."

"There's one nearby, it is directly in the way of our route to Fairy—"

"Whatever, just take us there," Gray waved his hand dismissively and walked back to his seat. He sat down and stared at Lucy in the eye. Lucy was confused, what was that all about?

"Hey kid, do you know where your mommy is?" onii-chan asked with a serious face. Lucy shook her head, then paused. That's when a scary, scary thing flew into her mind. She didn't know how, but she knew it was the truth. A tear trickled down her face as she answered him.

"Mommy, mommy, is dead…" her voice broke and quavered, but no more tears fell.

Onii-chan looked at her long and hard, then Gerald patted her on the head.

"Poor kid, your so small and understand what 'dead' means," Gerald spoke softly, with a sad look in his eyes.

Lucy was silent. At that moment, a question popped into her mind. She looked up at the two boys who were sitting solemnly next to her.

"Can I stay with you, onii-chan?"

That question she had asked was innocent, and Lucy really really hoped it would be the answer she hoped for. Maybe she had gotten too greedy, because their faces looked as if they had been struck by a hand.

Gerald exchanged a look with onii-chan. Onii-chan turned towards her, "No, you can't." His bluntness hurt, but Lucy's face remained passive.

"Oh."

Gerald reached out and took her hands in his, he spoke to her gently, "Little miss, if we could, we would take you with us. But we, we're _vampires_, and not just any vampire. We come from the royal family. It would be extremely difficult for you, a human, to stay with us."

Onii-chan let out a snort, "That's why I hate these old rules. Kid, trust me, we'll send you somewhere safe and trustworthy, I promise you that."

Lucy looked down at Gerald's hands. They were clutching hers tightly, and she smiled. It was small and sad, she then realized it had been a long time since she smiled.

"I understand. You were very nice to me, thank you," she said quietly, and smiled at the two boys who had taken care of her during this short time.

"Thank you very much."

Onii-chan stared at her, his eyes softening, and reached out to pat her head. Somehow, Lucy had gotten used to that hand.

The carriage slowed to a stop, the driver's voice rang out.

"My lord, we're here at the orphanage."

_. . . . . . . . Moments later . . . . . . . ._

Lucy sat on the ground, fingering the grass around her. She heard the faint voices of Gerald and a lady talking a few feet away. Gerald told her he was talking about her arrangements for staying here.

She looked up, onii-chan was walking towards her. He sat down next to her, looking at the grass she was messing with.

"Hey."

Lucy looked at at onii-chan, she felt her chest tighten. She didn't like that feeling. She was feeling a bit sad, and something else she couldn't identify.

He laid down, and stared at the sky, "Are you scared?"

Lucy stopped her movements, and sat on her knees, "A little."

"Will you be scared at night?"

"Yeah."

"Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah."

"…Do you think I'm abandoning you?"

"What does that mean?" Lucy asked, she didn't like the way he paused before asking that.

Onii-chan sighed, it seemed heavy, "It means that I'm asking you whether you think you'll never ever see me again."

Lucy froze, she didn't want to answer, her hand's clutched the sides of her dress.

"… I don't know," Lucy looked at her legs, but the truth was, she thought that he was.

"You idiot!" onii-chan sprang up and cupped her face in his hands. He made her meet him eye to eye. His black hair blew in the wind. His eyes looked angry.

He spoke firmly and almost angrily, "Don't you think I'm ever going to abandon you, got that?!"

Lucy was shoked, she could only nod, "Y-Yeah, I got it." She had never seen him so frantic and nervous like this. She was even more stunned when he wrapped his arms around her. Lucy could feel the warmth of his body, she didn't expect vampires to be warm. His arms tightened around her. For the first time in a long time, Lucy felt like everything was going to be okay.

"You better wait, kid. I'm going to come back," he spoke softly in her ear. Lucy couldn't help it anymore. She started to cry.

"And don't you ever be alone," he held her even more tightly now.

Lucy started finding it difficult to breath while crying, she let out a hiccup, trying to stop.

"How can I not be alone?"

They broke apart, Lucy sniffled, she wanted to be with onii-chan.

He turned around and took something from his belt. It was a pink stuffed rabbit.

"Here, it's mine. It was the first and last gift I ever got from my dad, when you're with it, you'll remember me. Okay?" he handed her the precious stuffed animal. Lucy took it into her hands, it was cute and soft. She clutched it tightly to her chest, her eyes started to dry off.

She smiled, a huge big grin, "Thank you onii-chan. I will wait for you to come back!"

He opened his mouth to say something, but paused. The corners of his mouth twisted up into a bittersweet smile.

"Yeah."

Lucy let out a small breath of relief, then stared lovingly at the stuffed bunny, _It's bunny-chan, _she thought to herself warmly.

While she was distracted by the rabbit, Lucy failed to notice onii-chan's hand coming closer to her eyes until they were centimeters from covering them.

"Wha…?" Lucy managed to say before they covered her eyes completely. All the light in the world was gone, "Onii-chan, what are you doing?" She felt slightly nervous, no she was extremely nervous. Something didn't feel right. Her heart was pounding.

"Onii…!"

A bright light seared through her eyes, it became brighter and brighter till it was almost painful. That's when she saw what appeared to be a flashback of everything from the moment she could remember till now.

Then, she seemed to be physically disappearing from her. Lucy managed to realize that those memories were actually disappearing. Her mind felt blanker and blanker with each passing moment.

_No… I don't want to forget. Onii-chan, don't do this!_

Lucy tried to summon her voice, her body felt so stiff and tired. With the remaining strength she tried to call out to her onii-chan, prince, and savior.

"Onii… chan…" her voice came out a mere whisper. She felt the wind blow around her, it seemed to carry her voice. She hoped it was carrying her voice to onii-chan. Lucy fell back, she really loved onii-chan.

She really loved him.

Not in the brother way.

But in the I-want-to-marry-you-way.

And yet, she forgot the most important part. She didn't even know his name.

At last, the last lingering bits of Lucy no longer existed in this world.

She had forgotten.

. . . . . . . .

_Gray's P.O.V._

He sat silently in his carriage, his face turned away from Gerald.

Gerald looked at his master painfully, "Gray-sama…"

"Be quiet," Gray said softly, his hair covered his eyes.

"… You had to do it. That child could not have us in her memories, it would only bring pain—"

Gray gritted his teeth and lashed out, "SHUT UP!"

Gerald winced, "Gray-sama."

Gray's head hung down, what the heck was this. She was only a human, a mere human. He shouldn't feel like this.

He guessed, he was officially a liar. He had abandoned her, he said he wouldn't. He even got angry at her when she had spoken the truth. He hid like a coward, he took away all her memories. He had told himself that he was just erasing the pain of her past. He was going to erase it from her so that she wouldn't feel the pain of this encounter in the future. She was just a kid, she didn't know that a meeting between vampire and human was considered taboo.

Why did he ever save her in the first place?

He felt his lips twist into a smile. He let out pained, short-lived laughter, "Damn it all. I don't even know her name."

. . . . . . . .

_A month later…_

Erza examined the children in the orphanage, then her eyes landed on three children huddled in the corner. They all had blond hair, how cute.

They turned around, it was two boys and a girl. She noticed the girl had the most empty eyes out of all the children here. Her brown eyes were so empty, unlike the bright eyes a child normally had.

Hmm… was she the one?

_*Flashback*_

"_What is it Gerald?" Erza was quite puzzled, what did this vampire butler want with her? He was only a kid._

_He looked apologetic and somewhat nervous, "Um… Sorry for calling you out Erza-san, but I have a request of you."_

_Erza had cocked her head, "Sure, what's us?"_

"_There's this girl at an orphanage with blonde hair," he spoke with a small hint of sadness which surprised Erza._

"_What about her?"_

"_Can you… take her in?"_

"_WHAT?!"_

_Gerald looked at the moon in the sky, his eyes suddenly distant, "She had experienced much pain, please, this child is very very precious."_

_Erza was silent, well, the guild could use some new recruitments. Plus, if the prince's very own butler asked her something like this, it must be important._

_She sighed, "Alright, but what's her name?"_

"_I… I don't know. But the moment you see her, check for a pink rabbit."_

"_Okay."_

_*End of Flashback*_

She walked with the lady in charge of this orphanage toward the three. She kneeled down, "Hello, little girl. What's your name?"

The blonde haired girl looked confused, and remained silent.

The two boys around her piped up, "I'm Loke."

"I'm Hibiki!"

Then they turned to the girl in unison, "But she doesn't remember her name. We just call her Rabbit-chan."

Erza smirked, maybe it wouldn't be bad to take two extra kids with her. The three seemed close. Wait a second, she didn't even know if this was the girl yet.

She turned her attention the girl, "What's your name?"

The blonde haired girl took something from behind her and clutched it tightly, it was the pink rabbit. Bingo, it was her. Erza smiled.

Something suddenly flickered in the girl's eyes. The girl opened her mouth sudden opened.

"I remember… my name. It's Lucy… My name is Lucy."

X.x.X

_I'm crying on my keyboard… that's all I got to say T^T_

_But a sad beginning doesn't mean a tragic ending :D_

_PLEASE REVIEW ./_


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